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When I need a break from * gestures at everything terrible happening * I trawl the internet for art about food. Art with food as its subject. Food that is art. Art that references consumption. Today I’m launching ART MEAL as a monthly feature for paid subscribers to dive into my accumulated treasures. 

"Food is 'everyday' - it has to be, or we would not survive for long. But food is never just something to eat," Margaret Visser wrote in Much Depends on Dinner. The artists I’ve found who bring food and eating into their work have tapped into this idea – consciously or not. I shy away from saying that food is universal or that food brings people together. Indeed, as it’s clear that food is used as a tool of oppression, at home and abroad, the cliches shrivel in my mouth. The art about food I’m drawn to has something more interesting to say, and spending time with it helps me keep writing, thinking, and cooking.

Now, let’s go out to lunch with ART MEAL.

An old man eating five-cent-lunch

An old man eating five-cent-lunch by the Ewing Galloway Agency (c 1920s)

Source: The New York Public Library Digital Collections
Artist: Ewing Galloway Agency
Date: 1920s (Approximate)

Free Lunch

Free Lunch by Charles Dana Gibson (1911)

Source: NYPL Digital Collections
Artist: Gibson, Charles Dana, 1867-1944 
Date: c. 1911

Beds, fifty cents, plate lunches and barbecue.

Beds, fifty cents by Marion Post Wolcott (1940)

Source: NYPL Digital Collections
Collection: Farm Security Administration Photographs
Photographer: Wolcott, Marion Post, 1910-1990 
Date: 1940

Couple at lunch counter--between Las Vegas and Los Angeles

Couple at lunch counter by Robert Frank (1955)

Source: National Gallery of Art
Artist: Robert Frank (American, born Switzerland, 1924 - 2019)
Date: 1955

Group at lunch counter--Gallup, New Mexico

Group at lunch counter by Robert Frank (1955)

Source: National Gallery of Art
Artist: Robert Frank (American, born Switzerland, 1924 - 2019)
Date: 1955

Peasants Lunching in Open Air

Peasants Lunching in Open Air by Esaias van de Velde I (c. early 1600s)

Source: National Gallery of Art
Artist: Esaias van de Velde I (Dutch, 1587 - 1630)
Undated
This object’s media is free and in the public domain.

A Performance: It is My Lunch Hour

It is My Lunch Hour by Ida Applebroog (1977)

Source: National Gallery of Art
Artist: Ida Applebroog (American, 1929 - 2023)
Date: 1977

Further reading about Applebroog’s art books here.

Lunch Counter

Lunch Counter by Mathilde Schaefer (1930)

Source: National Gallery of Art
Artist: Mathilde Schaefer (American, 1909 - 1973)
Date: 1930

Summer Lunch

Summer Lunch by Minetta Good (c. early 1900s)

Source: National Gallery of Art
Artist: Minnetta Good (American, 1895 - 1946)
Undated

Lunch Counter

Lunch Counter by Minnie Lois Murphy (c. 1935-1943)

Source: National Gallery of Art
Artist: Minnie Lois Murphy (American, 1901 - 1962)
Date: c. 1935-1943

Lunch No. 2 - Soup

Lunch No. 2 - Soup by Peggy Bacon (1928)

Source: MoMA
Artist: Peggy Bacon
Date: 1928

Let me know if you have any ideas for ART MEAL themes or artworks to share!

Upcoming themes: Beans, Picnic, and a closer look at photographer Robert Heinecken’s food projects.

Join my paid subscriber chat on TOMATO TOMATO, the Discord server started by Alicia Kennedy that’s the place to be for conversations on food, culture, ecology, and more. We begin in The Good Enough Weekly channel at 1pm PST on Wednesdays.

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