Get ready for some food for thought! Or not, I suppose. Even though I found this in the New York Times, the exhibition is located at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. What is this exhibition about though? “Art and Appetite” is a display of paintings, photos, and other such images throughout the centuries which depict food as well as a lack of it as well.
There are bright, fun and recent pictures (well compared to the date of the other images, they could be considered recent) which give a fun and whimsical approach towards food. A good example I came across while reading the article was Claes Oldenburg’s “Flying Pizza.” With its bright red colors and pizza slices which seem to magically separate themselves from the pie, this particular picture represents one part of the exhibition.
Claes Oldenburg's "Flying Pizza" 1964
However, a major portion of this exhibition is dedicated to something more depressing: starvation. This is where the guilt-tripping comes in. The exhibition became public on a day so close to Thanksgiving, so imagine the pang of pain some Connecticuns will feel when stopping to see this exhibition after coming from the turkey market. An interesting concept pointed out which still exists today is the fact that it’s “cheaper to buy empty calories than real food.” For example, in the 1930s, Milk cost 6 cents, while soda cost a penny less. What’s even more interesting was that this was also noted by artists in the 16th century. Pieter van der Heyden’s 1563 pair, “The Fat Kitchen” and “The Thin Kitchen” shows two different dinner situations.
I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves here:
Fat Kitchen
Thin Kitchen
As you can see, even the people in both images clearly depict the big difference. Skinny, emaciated figures all reaching into one bowl, versus heavier people with piles of meat on top of the table.
I think this especially, should remind us to give lots of thanks as we feast with our families on Thanksgiving. Even if this was in New York, it wouldn’t be an exhibit worth going to, but just knowing about it and seeing these examples with Thanksgiving approaching upon can have a great affect upon our mindset.
Happy early Thanksgiving everyone!
Interesting that the fat party is kicking a skinny person out a window, and the skinny party is kicking a fat person out the door! sorting out the haves and the have nots is a perennial problem for any society.