History in Context Essay

Food Photography In Visual Arts

Food plays a big part of the current Western consumer society and it is more than

just sustenance argues Ventura Thompson H G (2011) in a series of articles

written for the Food Bugle Journal. She argues that although food has been used

as a subject since the days of still life photography there are no history books

dedicated to food photography per se, however a great deal has been written

about it nonetheless. She maintains that food photography in itself merits to be

regarded as an artistic genre in itself. Hills Orford E J (2013) is in agreement and

maintains that food is a big part of our historical and cultural makeup and as a

result appears in the visual arts throughout the centuries. Ventura Thompson

(2011) also looks to the historical context of food in paintings as she maintains

food photography has developed from this art historical tradition. Many of the

characteristics that were used by painters were later adopted by food

photographers. Characteristics such as composition, light effects, reflection of

lifestyle or culture are all inherent in current food photography. Food in the visual

arts has a very long tradition. Greeks and Romans took pride in depicting food

realistically according to Gauvreau D (2009). Moreover, it is believed that in

ancient Egyptian culture depictions of food on the pyramid walls had magical

powers that sustained the departed in the afterlife.

Throughout the 15th century food art gained importance due to the realism

movements and this continued through the 16th and 17th centuries as a greater

scientific interest ensued. In 17th century art, food was the subject of still lives.

Food as a subject of still life painting dates back to the 16th century but became

more widespread in Europe in the 17th Century. The food featured in these

paintings had a natural beauty. The commissioned paintings needed to show

detail and a pleasing aesthetic composition as well as an allegorical message.

Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio created realistic depictions of fruit.

According to Gauvreau D (2009) the Dutch artists lead the way with their

paintings of displays of food in kitchen and market scenes. An exemplar of such a

painting genre is the painting below by Willem Kalf (1618-1693) - Still Life with

Drinking Horn (1653) depicting a sumptuous spread. Willem Kalf was one of the

great Dutch painters and this genre of still life paintings was known as

pronkstillverein meaning ostentatious still life depicting the luxurious items

that reflected the patrons lifestyles. Often these included exotic food, the finest

porcelain and glassware as well as gold and silverware.

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WILLEM KALF (1622-1693)

'Still Life with Drinking Horn', 1653 (oil on canvas)

According to Ventura Thompson HG (2011) the Dutch painters enhanced the

idea that having a huge array of food displayed conveyed the idea of bounty and

wealth. In the 18th century the still life paintings became much more elaborate.

The food items were chosen for their aesthetic qualities or unusual shapes and

textures. Jean Simon Chardin produced a substantial amount of such realist

paintings between 1720 and 1770. Paul Cezanne a French artist from the 1800s

was influential for the generation of still life paintings with depictions of fruit in a

stylized manner. Vincent Van Gogh a contemporary of Cezanne also painted

numerous paintings of food - one of his most famous being Still life with Quinces

and Oranges. Many artist of the nineteenth century preferred still life imagery for

their paintings.
Often in these paintings the food depicted represents the realism of the subject

including the blemishes and imperfections. According to Hills Orford E J (2013)

Edouard Manet (1832-1883) also chose to paint still lives as he maintained that

a painter can express all that he wants with fruit or flowers. According to Hills

Orford, Manet wanted to convey the fragility and brevity of life in his paintings.

Of special interest to Hills Orford is Manets painting Still Life with Fish

(c1864/1868) in which the fish is lifeless with a vacant look implying that all life

is brief and vulnerable. In this instance argues Hills Orford (2013) the food serves

not just as the subject but is also the message in the metaphor of life.
!

Still Life with Fish Edouard Manet (c1864/1868)

Interestingly the first food photographs date back to the early 19th century as a

copy of the still lives. These photos focused on the effects of light, as well as

composition. Nicephore Niepice in 1827 produced the first photo of a table

setting. This was then followed by a still life by Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre in

1837, Talbot and Hippolyte Bayard by 1840.

Between 1842 and 1846 Henry Fox Talbot executed a series of still life photos

entitled Pencils of Nature capturing fruit baskets on patterned tablecloths

mirroring the still life paintings of the 17th century Flemish painters. Turshen J
(2017) in her article Food Photography Over the Years discusses the photo by

William Henry Fox Talbot A Fruit Piece 1845 and draws our attention of how

food is made the focus of the photo, mirroring the still lives in paintings and not

just included in the background.

The first food illustrations were then used in 1867 in the Royal Cookery Book by

Jules Gouffe, by using chromolithographs. Despite the fact that food was

photographed as a subject, still life paintings of food remained very popular

throughout the 20th century.

In contemporary paintings of the 20th century artists took to painting food to

draw attention to social issues. Andy Warhol and Ralph Goings painted ordinary

food items to make such statements. However, according to Hills Orford E (2009)

food can be both a historical as well a political medium in its depictions. Hills

Orford E (2009) draws upon the example of Paolo Ucellos The Hunt in the Forest

(1470) painting which portrays the brutality and aggression of the hunters as

they pursue their prey. Hills Orford E (2009) argues that the hunting scenes

portrayed as by Courbet in The Quarry (1857) - the artist is depicting the brutal

way in which the prey is killed as well as the wastefulness where the object of the

painting would serve no purpose after having been used as a subject. This is in

resonance with the way in which contemporary artist of the twenty-first century

used rotten meat in an art gallery to show the waste of our society. Therefore

argues Hill Orford E (2009) food is both subject and medium as its depictions

serves to pass on a message to the viewer. Hills Orford E (2013) in her article

Foods in the Arts draws our attention to Leonardo Da Vincis famous painting

The Last Supper (1498) and explains how food is used to augment all the

elements of composition in completing the compositional triangle. Martinique Elena

(2017) in her post - the Fascination of Food in Art History http://

www.widewalls.ch/food-in-art-history/ draws our attention to how the

consumerism of the mid-twentieth century drove pop artists such as Anthony

Warhol to criticize the mass productions of food in his image - 32 Campbells

Soup Cans (1962)

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Furthermore, Ralph Goings ridicules advertising techniques by depicting his

products with highly contrasting lighting and colour saturation making his food

look unrealistic almost like plastic. Jana Sterbak went as far as creating a dress

out of raw meat entitled Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic (1987).

This is an example of how food becomes literally the medium to get the message

across. According to Martinique E food imagery will remain as long as both art

and food exist in the world. Feast for the Eyes the Story of Food in

Photography is an ongoing photographic exhibition curated by Susan Bright and

Denise Wolff currently running in Paris (2017). Still Life looks at the artistic

tradition borrowed from paintings and explores how artists have followed,

borrowed or subverted the genre argues Bright S (2017). While food

photography as a genre has been confined to commercials, it is slowly gaining

ground as an artistic form in itself argues Ventura Thompson HG (2012).

Consequently in their blog Desserts for Breakfast.

 Anita Chu and Stephanie Shih explore different styles in contemporary food

photography and discuss various styles of publications. In the course of our

research, Anita Chu and Stephanie Shih identified six major groups of food

photography styles prominent on blogs (and partly in print) with some variations

and sub-groups within each one: (1) product, (2) journalistic and straightforward,

(3) bright and propped, (4) lifestyle-inspired, (5) bold and clean, and (6)

chiaroscuro. The last style - the chiaroscuro is reminiscent of Caravaggios still life

paintings as the photo below clearly shows.

In this photo the style makes use of the contrast of light and dark to throw focus

on the food, and permitting the photographer to really control what the viewer

sees. Therefore, food photography is not just a modern day indulgence but rather

it has been around as early as the 1800s and food as an art form has its roots

steeped in art history making used of various techniques of light effects and

composition which photographers still make use of today whether they want to

use food as the subject or the medium.

References
Dessertsforbreakfast.com. (2012). Current Food Photography Styles and
Trends: A Cake Case Study. [online] Available at: http://
www.dessertsforbreakfast.com/2012/06/current-food-photography-styles-
and.html [Accessed 28 May 2017].

Helengraceventurathompson.com. (2012). Current Food photography styles

and trends | The History of Food Photography. [online] Available at: http://
helengraceventurathompson.com/blog/historyooodphotography/?p=28
[Accessed 28 May 2017].

Thefoodiebugle.com. (2017). The art of food photography for todays

lifestyles | The Foodie Bugle. [online] Available at: http://thefoodiebugle.com/
article/food-photography/the-art-of-food-photography-in-todays-lifestyles
[Accessed 28 May 2017].

Thefoodiebugle.com. (2017). The history of food photography in the late 20th

century cookbook. | The Foodie Bugle. [online] Available at: http://
thefoodiebugle.com/article/food-photography/the-history-of-food-
photography-in-the-late-20th-century-cookbook [Accessed 28 May 2017].

Helengraceventurathompson.com. (2017). The History of Food Photography |

It isn't a little subject Helen Grace Ventura Thompson. [online] Available at:
http://helengraceventurathompson.com/blog/historyooodphotography/
[Accessed 28 May 2017].

PCA. (2017). Feast for the Eyes: The Story of Food in Photography PCA.
[online] Available at: https://www.paris.edu/feast-for-the-eyes-the-story-of-
food-in-photography/ [Accessed 28 May 2017].