Théo van Rysselberghe – Plum Applesauce
As a neo-impressionist painter, Belgian-born Théo van Rysselberghe’s work embraced the ordered application of pure colour. In the painting Still Life with Plums (1926), created the year of his death, van Rysselberghe abandoned his earlier pointillist technique in favour of broad brushstrokes of vivid colour. Against the muted backdrop of browns and golds, the saturated...
Feasting on Art Recipe Contest II
I am pleased to announce the opening of the 2nd annual Feasting on Art Recipe Contest to commemorate the two-year mark of this blog. Between now and March 21st, submit your best cheese recipes to win a cookbook and to help me celebrate another year of food & art! Contest Directions: Create an original recipe...
William Joseph McCloskey – Oven Candied Tangerines
I read the essay Borderland by M.F.K. Fisher on a sunny afternoon during a fleeting hour of leisure. The title gave no hint to the topic of the essay, yet within the first few sentences, the words began to resonate. Speaking of the simple pleasures of food, the methodological preparation of the tangerines reveals that...
Colour Yellow – Gustavo Montoya – Banana Flan
Yellow is a colour of juxtapositions. In the natural world, animals and insects cloak their bodies (often in conjunction with the colour black) to signify poison, danger. Likewise, it is the colour of death, the sallow skin of a sick person and the brilliant autumnal yellow of leaves before they fall to the ground. The...
Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas – Cabbage-Wrapped Meatballs
Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas was recognized for his cubist work but spent the majority of his career concerned with the Greek landscape. He was considered one of the foremost proponents of Greek Modern Art and spent a large part of his career studying ancient Greek and Byzantine art. Still Life with Vegetables (1976) was painted soon after...
Paul LaCroix – Semi-Dried Tomato & Asparagus Quiche
There is a very limited amount of literature concerning the American artist Paul LaCroix. He has a handful of works in regional art museums around the United States and he is thought to have been a contemporary of Severin Rosen, who also painted in the mid-19th century. LaCroix immigrated from France to the United States...
Tom Wesselmann – Pear Tart with Whiskey Cream
I am excited to be included on the Design*Sponge website as part of the ‘In the kitchen with…’ series. Hopefully the short description I sent with the recipe will tempt you to visit the Design*Sponge page to take a look at the pear tart with whiskey cream. Combining the ingredients in Tom Wesselmann’s Still Life #2 was...
Utagawa Kuniyoshi – Wakame Seaweed Salad
Utagawa Kuniyoshi, master of the ukiyo-e style of painting, was guided by elements of Western art including elements of landscape painting and the caricature. Ukiyo-e is a specific genre that combines elements of landscape painting and history with theatrics to produce scenes of a fleeting world, full of pleasure and beauty. Kuniyoshi was the son...
Giorgio Morandi – Croissant French Toast
In France, French toast is called pain perdu, or ‘lost bread’ to highlight the way the dish reclaims unfortunate lumps of bread that become too hard to eat. The recipe of a stale bit of bread, dipped in eggy milk and fried, is made especially indulgent through the use of a croissant – crispy on...
Colour Orange – Margaret Preston – Thai Papaya Salad
The colour orange has always been one of warning used for it’s eye-catching qualities to delineate danger. The pigment was produced through a difficult process of grinding down madder, the pink root of a small bush. Madder is often used to make ‘rose madder genuine’ watercolor paint but when used as a dye, a rich...
Daguerreotype Still Life – Salt & Vinegar Sweet Potato Fries
The still life has had an important role within the history of photography since the inception of the medium in the mid-19th century. As the technology advanced, still life compositions were the simplest works to produce because the inanimate objects gave the artist the greatest amount of control during the long exposure time. With further...
Wayne Thiebaud – Pop Art Cakes
The frosting upon Wayne Thiebaud’s 1963 painting, Cakes, is so thickly applied that I am often tempted to reach out, run my finger along one of the perfect cake-tops to taste the sugary dessert. Thiebaud cleverly uses a thick application of paint to mimic the look and texture of frosting, highlighting the idea of ‘object...