Luis Meléndez – Baby Octopus in Sofregit Sauce
Although he received little acclaim during his lifetime, Luis Meléndez is now recognized as one of the greatest 18th-century Spanish still life artists. His works are powerful and striking though his balanced composition and control of light. Highlights are found throughout the painting upon every surface imaginable. The precise brushstrokes convey texture (the smooth skin...
Fernando Botero – Frozen Watermelon Margarita
Fernando Botero is a Colombian artist who gave himself the title “most Colombian of Colombian artists.” Botero is primarily known for his portraits and for the exaggerated the proportions of his subjects. His ‘large people’, deemed obese by critics, are very round and seem to be composed of several bulbous spheres stacked upon one another...
Édouard Manet – Ham, Gruyère, and Moutarde Palmiers
This is my third post to feature a still life by Édouard Manet. As with his still life A Bunch of Asparagus (1880), Manet pays very little attention to composition, and through the placement of the subject in the centre of the canvas he incorporates little else to direct the eye to other areas. This...
Vincent van Gogh – Lemon Poppy Seed Bread & Blueberry Honey Butter
The Post-Impressionist pioneer of Expressionism, Vincent van Gogh, suffered from mental illness which may have been due in part to his love of absinthe and lead poisoning (at that time all paints were lead based). In the beginning of his career his palette was somber and muted. It was after meeting Impressionist painters, Camille Pissarro,...
Cristoforo Munari – Milano Cookies
The late-Baroque, Italian painter, Cristoforno Munari worked predominantly in still life. The standards of Baroque art were encouraged by the Roman Catholic church and embodied iconography and monarchy though an intensely precise handling of paint. Munari was an official court painter for the Medici family, the predominant sponsor of all Renaissance art in Florence. The...
Jeff Koons – Mostaccioli (a.k.a. Moustache) Cookies
My inspiration this week is by the contemporary sculptor, Jeff Koons. His sculpture Moustache (2003) is from the Serpentine Gallery show Popeye Series which encompasses many of the common themes in his work: consumerism, childhood, taste, and banality. The use of inflatable toys has appeared in his sculpture dating back to the late 1970s.(1) One...
Severin Rosen – Strawberry BBQ Pulled Pork
Severin Rosen was a German immigrant who is known as one of the major mid-nineteenth century American still life painters. Rosen’s work featured very similar subject matter, typically fruits, sometimes flowers, arranged on a tabletop with a dark background. Some paintings were so similar that they were almost duplicates with only a few elements of...
Diego Rivera – Chipotle Chicken Enchiladas
Diego Rivera is the world famous Mexican muralist who was an active Communist and was married to Frida Kahlo. His giant frescoes often tell a story which is similar in tradition to the Mayan steles. The subjects revolve around Mexican society with many references to the 1910 revolution. Characteristic to his style were simple figures...
Nora Heysen – Pavlova with Lemon Curd Blueberries
Nora Heysen was the very first woman to win the Archibald Prize for portraiture and was the first woman in Australia to garner an official war artist appointment. She studied at the Central School of Art in London where her appreciation for the work by French artists Camille Pissarro and Paul Cézanne transformed her classical...
William Merritt Chase – Red Onion Marmalade
This is my second post featuring a still life by William Merritt Chase and like the first painting, Still Life with Pepper and Carrot (c.1900), he painted Just Onions (Onions; Still Life ) (1912) on a dark background in a pseudo-impressionist style with close attention paid to variations in tone. Chase applies the same loose...
Bryant Chapin – Strawberry Shortcake with Blueberry Syrup
In the 1850’s, strawberry shortcake parties were a popular way to celebrate the arrival of summer (2). This sweet dessert is traditionally made with baking soda to produce a crumbly biscuit often referred to as a scone in the UK. For a lower calorie version of the dessert, angel food cake is used to replace...
Henri Matisse – Orange Grapefruit Salad
Henri Matisse, one of the most illustrious 20th-century artists, worked in a beautiful fluid style with strong colour. His work was part of the Fauvist movement which was characterized by emotion expressed with incongruent colours, simplified forms to the point of abstraction, and wild brush strokes (1). A Vase with Oranges (1916) is representative of...