Have you ever considered how much food and art have in common? Cultural trends in both art and dining have changed immensely over time; they both involve passion and innovation, and are visually delectable. An artist cultivates a unique vision for each piece of artwork they create, just as a chef must carefully conceptualize and execute a dish. Diners and museum patrons pay for access to food and art, and both possess qualities that range from simplistic to more avant garde and experimental.
Image: via Amon Carter Museum
If you aren’t drooling yet, thinking about how delicious fine foods and art can be, perhaps the Amon Carter Museum of American Art can help. The museum recently launched a new exhibit called Art and Appetite: American Painting, Culture, and Cuisine that traces the similarities between art and food, and examines the societal implications of their intersection. An exhibition of sixty paintings by American artists, Art and Appetite “explores the art and culture of food, investigating the many meanings and interpretations of dining in America.”
Image: via Amon Carter Museum
According to the exhibition’s description, “From this country’s earliest years, American artists have used still life painting to express cultural, political, and social values, elevating the subject to a significant artistic language,” of how fascinating it is to examine the significance in a seemingly simple still life painting. “The topic of food allowed American artists both to celebrate and critique their society, expressing ideas relating to politics, race, class, gender, commerce, and how these categories define American identity,” explains the exhibition’s curators.
Organized by the Art Institute of Chicago, Art and Appetite will feature iconic works by Edward Hopper, Norman Rockwell, Andy Warhol, and many others. There will also be ongoing events that accompany the exhibit at the Amon Carter Museum, such as “Art Nosh,” and “Eating History” – programs that illustrate the intersection between food and art. Learn more at the Amon Carter Museum’s upcoming exhibitions webpage.
Art and Appetite: American Painting, Culture, and Cuisine
February 22nd – May 18th, 2014
Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TX