"Art and Appetite" Exhibit Sure Makes Us Hungry
Photo credit: SEPS by Curtis Licensing.
Your annual Thanksgiving dinner may not look precisely like the one depicted in Norman Rockwell’s famous 1942 painting, ”Freedom from Want,” but we bet it’s pretty darn close. Turkey? Check. Family? Check. Expectant, smiling faces gathered around a long table? Check, check.
It might feel familiar because the iconic artwork, now on display at the Art Institute of Chicago, evokes the ideals of a specific moment in American culture. It’s part of a larger exhibition of more than 100 paintings, sculptures and decorative art pieces reflecting a spectrum of the nation’s culinary habits over the course of the 18th through 20th centuries. "Art and Appetite: American Painting, Culture, and Cuisine" runs through January 27, 2014 in Chicago. After that, it’s headed to the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas, from February to May of next year.
You’ll likely recognize the pastel edibles in Wayne Thiebaud’s Salad, Sandwiches and Dessert, Edward Hopper’s lonesome restaurant scene in Nighthawks, or perhaps the wildly colorful Turkey by Roy Lichtenstein. Other less iconic pictures are no less growl-inducing. We’ve posted a few of our favorites below.
Peter Blume. Vegetable Dinner, 1927.
Photo credit: The Educational Alliance, Inc./Estate of Peter Blume/Licensed by VAGA
Wayne Thiebaud. Salad, Sandwiches and Dessert, 1960.
Photo credit: Wayne Thiebaud/Licensed by VAGA
William Michael Harnett. For Sunday’s Dinner, 1888.
Photo credit: Art Institute of Chicago
Edward Hopper. Nighthawks, 1942.
Photo credit: Art Institute of Chicago.
William J. McCloskey. Wrapped Oranges, 1889.
Photo credit: Amon Carter Museum of American Art
Theodore Russell Davis, Oyster Plate, designed 1879, produced 1880/87 by Haviland & Co.
Photo credit: American Art Purchase Fund.
Roy Lichtenstein. Turkey, 1961.
Photo credit: Estate of Roy Lichtenstein.
