Feast: Food Represented In The Visual Arts

The Mosesian Center for the Arts invites artists to submit work inspired by food. Depictions of food have been around since antiquity. In mosaics and frescos from Roman times, wine, fruit, bread, and grains have been depicted in private houses and temples. In later centuries, paintings portraying both religious and secular themes often incorporated food and drinks. The still life genre pioneered by the Dutch and Flemish masters has endured for centuries. From the early representations of lavish food displays of grapes, lobsters, game animals, and exotic fruit to the still life paintings of Cezanne and Warhol’s Cambell soup cans, artists have been fascinated by food. It is imbued with symbolism and is often used to make commentary on economic and social issues. In earlier times, food still life paintings represented wealth, and some illustrated the simpler meals of bread and fish of the less prosperous. Throughout the centuries, religious…