Twentieth Century Kitchens

When we want to know what a kitchen was like in the 17th or 18th century, we take a look at the paintings and other art works of the artists of that time. Works by Chardin (1699-1779) in France or Jan Steen (1626- 1669) and many others during the Dutch Golden Age give us wonderful insight into life in those times, including lives of kitchen maids and the atmosphere of various public dining places and food-centered events. I've written about these representations of French and Dutch kitchens <a href="http://regional-food.blogspot.com/2013/01/eighteenth-century-french-kitchens.html">here</a> and <a href="http://regional-food.blogspot.com/search?q=Dutch+Golden+age">here</a>.  Though I haven't focused on it, English tradition also includes various indoor kitchen and tavern or inn-keeper scenes from the 18th through early 20th centuries.<br /><br />What about our own time? Do our great artists give us insight into life in our own kitchens and public dining spaces? Or has photography or some change in the role of art made such things obsolete?<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXu7V_D7VLSFKPJ32YgBQ7Zj4rs7nmE9bst9ajGauh_g85-XwPTZLV0UiC4WCcDFtCC2gCyI2H53G2PTI1l76YuS3yuh0cUKpLfXUmT2lubGqisBAb4gJ_vZEAbJq9ReOqOF-pjON4Af6E/s1600/rockwell-kitchen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXu7V_D7VLSFKPJ32YgBQ7Zj4rs7nmE9bst9ajGauh_g85-XwPTZLV0UiC4WCcDFtCC2gCyI2H53G2PTI1l76YuS3yuh0cUKpLfXUmT2lubGqisBAb4gJ_vZEAbJq9ReOqOF-pjON4Af6E/s400/rockwell-kitchen.jpg" width="302" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Norman Rockwell, Saturday Evening Post Cover, 1945.</td></tr></tbody></table>The artist that most quickly comes to mind is Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), whose subject was everyday life in mid-20th century America. Lots of pictures show Americans at table, about to eat a festive meal like Thanksgiving, or other scenes about everyday life. I've chosen the image at left because it reminds me of the earlier artists' work where a kitchen maid might be working on some task, holding a bowl in her lap. America is of course a land without servants -- the first visible fact of this painting is that the returning soldier is helping out his mom. No question, though, it conveys a great deal about American life in 1945, which I feel no need to spell out.<br /><br />Big question: is Rockwell really comparable to Chardin, Steen, and other painters of the Dutch Golden Age or of Victorian scenes? I'm not very well-educated about art theory, but I say yes, he's quite similar in many ways, not just in his choices of every-day themes and subjects, but also in his ability and power as a visual communicator. Why get more theoretical about art than that?<br /><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGFyqXyO9EYTfgIRHuIkbMUbI6YVlJG5rs0NbB9NOfUwUon2kr2ZSiSMwDdpzGLd2sf-HR-971yJ5-CHZUQywGkCvqYJ7kRpCFR4MCDbkxKDVA6UN0xq4qVnDcQh-QTjCoLvEVS3Drj61u/s1600/hopper-chop-suey-1929.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGFyqXyO9EYTfgIRHuIkbMUbI6YVlJG5rs0NbB9NOfUwUon2kr2ZSiSMwDdpzGLd2sf-HR-971yJ5-CHZUQywGkCvqYJ7kRpCFR4MCDbkxKDVA6UN0xq4qVnDcQh-QTjCoLvEVS3Drj61u/s320/hopper-chop-suey-1929.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Edward Hopper, "Chop Suey" 1929</td></tr></tbody></table>Edward Hopper (1882-1967) chose the interior of restaurants as his subject for at least a couple of very famous paintings. In "Chop Suey" (right) and "Automat" he shows women at the table in a restaurant. The women in "Chop Suey" are evidently having a cup of tea and a conversation, and other diners are also in the frame. In "Automat" the woman is alone, strikingly alone.  Hopper's iconic <a href="http://regional-food.blogspot.com/2013/10/wordless-wednesday-hoppers-nighthawks.html">"Nighthawks" -- showing several people inside a diner</a> -- is the most famous like these.<br /><br />In a few hundred years I think people who want to get a visual impression of dining in the 20th century will be as interested in these images as we are in Chardin's or Steen's depictions of their day. Yes, there were other styles of art than Hopper and Rockwell, styles that were in many ways more dominant -- and didn't depict any dining events or kitchen interiors, or in many cases didn't depict any recognizable objects.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9eYlW6ssvqp7g8lBHOBzo7diJnDq2AfpJMvm5X0qv17cgxPqIxFkNzJcrlA5nmMacP18ZhNMxdHQdDrUFApHD9ROHKi2AnVj8Q7RToLO0X2BU_bK1wlFwVCXkxpAKPtaBd8O-imZ0unmo/s1600/okeefee-1961.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9eYlW6ssvqp7g8lBHOBzo7diJnDq2AfpJMvm5X0qv17cgxPqIxFkNzJcrlA5nmMacP18ZhNMxdHQdDrUFApHD9ROHKi2AnVj8Q7RToLO0X2BU_bK1wlFwVCXkxpAKPtaBd8O-imZ0unmo/s320/okeefee-1961.jpg" width="252" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Georgia O'Keeffee's Kitchen, 1961</td></tr></tbody></table>Here's something that fascinates me: a photo of Georgia O'Keeffee (1887-1986) in her kitchen at the Ghost Ranch in New Mexico. Evidently she loved to cook the foods of the New Mexico locals.<br /><br />Did she ever paint anything about the food? I can't find anything except a few still-life studies, which I never consider to be real food paintings. She concentrated on amazing abstractions of the scenery outside her windows, as well as the close-ups of flowers and other items that were her trademark. Upon seeing the actual landscapes around her homes when I visited there, I was overwhelmed by how similar to the actual views were her representations of the barren but colorful mountains with scrubby plants and unfamiliar rocky outcroppings.<br /><br />O'Keeffee was very original in her work, and exacting in her choices of subject matter. If she didn't paint scenes inside the kitchen (a lack that I can't actually prove) there were no doubt very good reasons why not. I'm glad she was an accomplished cook, along with being an artist!<br /><br />As the 20th century progressed, art movements developed thick and fast. I've always found the swift progression of ideas to be fascinating. Pop art is one of my favorites, and its inclusion of kitchen and dining images is one of its most famous features. Normally, you'd think of Andy Warhol and Tomato Soup Cans. I also want to think about how it's reflected in the work of Duane Hanson (1925-1996) and George Segal (1924-2000). Hanson worked in resin and mixed media, so his works look so real that they are startling, while Segal made casts of actual people but left the gauze and other casting materials in place, resulting in ghostly statues. Both are hard to grasp in little photos, but here are a few:<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-D4Vz4EvlcKErQdMBf2fGw5Z3EAhd_U4zp97njMr43zymtO51aXUTd12En7r8xmYMYKbLpYRld5Ske3YEjSe_O1bwZkZ-axVzzHCy0PDNpKYpQCzNYJEfLeKJKyDvqGklGgao0If8Nfi0/s1600/hansen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-D4Vz4EvlcKErQdMBf2fGw5Z3EAhd_U4zp97njMr43zymtO51aXUTd12En7r8xmYMYKbLpYRld5Ske3YEjSe_O1bwZkZ-axVzzHCy0PDNpKYpQCzNYJEfLeKJKyDvqGklGgao0If8Nfi0/s320/hansen.jpg" width="254" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Duane Hanson, "Woman Eating," 1971</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOU_jIuPkJY2cupJoo-9L8_5PwMzc41tndLzMxuWjOHy-ohfWVtAWOPVvStAtiGScnzkRgk2lu_KmW57sHCuz_J10W4lBaoInUuCzKxBIKHxl9DuTEhm-RGtGxTdl5Mwc5clBSawfQ-VCy/s1600/supermarket-shopper-hanson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOU_jIuPkJY2cupJoo-9L8_5PwMzc41tndLzMxuWjOHy-ohfWVtAWOPVvStAtiGScnzkRgk2lu_KmW57sHCuz_J10W4lBaoInUuCzKxBIKHxl9DuTEhm-RGtGxTdl5Mwc5clBSawfQ-VCy/s320/supermarket-shopper-hanson.jpg" width="246" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Duane Hanson, "Supermarket Shopper," 1970</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY9S6X5_urc8yNN-gWR3iEQn5fT79l7T1wm_sWDsRaQ8CNggcr1nvbJsyJfD3jWC0mYXiUE44ZSvXPspHlIB-2Dw1d6WuVk6bkLHVYJ2IRlhiv6qN5cvsQYZFyqIeTvtOgzhF2Avgk4jUO/s1600/segal-restaurant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY9S6X5_urc8yNN-gWR3iEQn5fT79l7T1wm_sWDsRaQ8CNggcr1nvbJsyJfD3jWC0mYXiUE44ZSvXPspHlIB-2Dw1d6WuVk6bkLHVYJ2IRlhiv6qN5cvsQYZFyqIeTvtOgzhF2Avgk4jUO/s320/segal-restaurant.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">George Segal, "Restaurant" -- one of many on this theme,<br />often compared to works by Hopper</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIfsJBnvj4U51ElB78DNFSDa1QvyDb6e8MNtQb3Z0EbCxxoRf0RAn2Q2eLxyJOK6C9-Gk2TI9C2uID3qERSkIAOOE9dLsfMAWsRZn69JY1smj-4cL8-XV0nJKIYjg3LgkPV5UdjSuLLQCQ/s1600/segal-diner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIfsJBnvj4U51ElB78DNFSDa1QvyDb6e8MNtQb3Z0EbCxxoRf0RAn2Q2eLxyJOK6C9-Gk2TI9C2uID3qERSkIAOOE9dLsfMAWsRZn69JY1smj-4cL8-XV0nJKIYjg3LgkPV5UdjSuLLQCQ/s320/segal-diner.jpg" width="246" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Segal, "Diner"</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I have barely begun exploring this topic, which is obviously enormous and full of additional opportunities to see what artists have made of our everyday lives.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />

Twentieth Century Kitchens

When we want to know what a kitchen was like in the 17th or 18th century, we take a look at the paintings and other art works of the artists...

Baca selengkapnya »

Two Views of Food

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5774413452/" title="getty1550 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="getty1550" height="543" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3659/5774413452_856f26ea9b_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br />In this simple scene, painted around 1660, painter Pieter de Hooch depicts "A Woman Preparing Bread and Butter for a Boy." Many Dutch painters of the era illustrated the interior of homes of middle class people, showing their daily lives in an idealized way. I love the details of the loaf of bread, the butter, and the glimpses of the scene outside the home.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5774413584/" title="getty6290 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="getty6290" height="375" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3184/5774413584_1d439b44be.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br />In contrast: this detail from Aert de Gelder's large portrayal of "The Banquet of Ahasuerus" uses a dining scene to illustrate a decadent and possibly corrupt man -- though of course the viewer knows how the scene is redeemed in the remainder of the book of Esther from which the image is derived. This painting dates from around 20 years after the first.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5774413706/" title="getty6294 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="getty6294" height="375" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2391/5774413706_848abe4852.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br />Nikolaus Knupfer's "Solon before Croesus" (detail above) shows an even more decadent-seeming scene. I'm not sure I understand what the woman's role is in this Greek myth about King Solon, who told Croesus that poor people may be happier than kings. The painting dates from a few years prior to the first one.<br /><br />Based on these three paintings, which I saw today at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and on many other still-lives, Biblical and mythological paintings, and commonplace interiors from the Dutch Golden Age, I have an idea that the simple lives of ordinary virtuous Dutch people in this era were favorably contrasted with the more luxurious lives of the rich rulers of the past. I believe that this was the era of the Dutch Republic, where egalitarianism was almost achieved for a while.<br /><br />The Getty museum is situated on a beautiful hilltop with vast views out to sea and towards the mountains. Its many harmonious buildings, outdoor fountains and sculpture, and well-kept gardens are very impressive.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/5773875911/" title="getty1515 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="getty1515" height="331" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3544/5773875911_41503025e7.jpg" width="500" /></a>

Two Views of Food

In this simple scene, painted around 1660, painter Pieter de Hooch depicts "A Woman Preparing Bread and Butter for a Boy." Many Du...

Baca selengkapnya »