A KA 201 European Funded School Project ( AGREEMENT NUMBER: 2015-1-NL01-KA201-008903)

HOLLAND, BULGARIA, FRANCE, FRENCH CARIBBEAN, GREECE, ITALY, POLAND, TURKEY

PROJECT MEETING 16-22 FEBRUARY 2016 CRETE FOOD IN ART Food has always held a very special role in the artworks of all ages.

In different ways, the food entered into the world of art and it intended to communicate the nature of the picture (religious, profane, etc.), the social status of the protagonists (bread and vegetables for the poor, sweet and game for the upper classes), as well as the period.

The technique of Symbolism was mainly used to transmit information and SIMPLE IMAGES were written instead of written phrases.

ASAROTOS OIKOS IN ENGLISH “UNSWEPT ROOM”IS A GREAT TERM REGARDING ANCIENT ROMAN AND HELLENISTIC MOSAIC WORK. THESE FLOOR MOSAICS BECAME SO POPULAR IN ANCIENT ROME THAT THEREWAS A TERM FOR THEM – ASAROTOS.

THE WORD IS GREEK BECAUSE ORIGINALLY IT WAS CREATED IN THE SECOND CENTURY B.C BY SOSOS OF PERGAMON BUT IT BECAME A VERY POPULAR ROMAN GENRE WITH THE WEALTHY CLASSES IN ANCIENT ROME THANKS TO ARTISTS LIKE HERACLITUS

.

THIS SPLENDID MOSAIC, MADE UP OF TINY PIECES OF GLASS AND COLORED MARBLE ONCE DECORATED THE FLOOR OF THE DINING ROOM OF A VILLA ON THE AVENTINE HILL IN ROME AT THE TIME OF THE EMPEROR HADRIAN, TODAY IT IS PRESERVED INSIDE THE VATICAN MUSEUMS. HERE THE ARTIST HERACLITUS, WHO SIGNED HIS NAME CREATED A FLOOR WHICH SEEMS TO BE COVERED WITH THE DEBRIS OF A BANQUET,THE REMAINS THAT WOULD NORMALLY BE SWEPT AWAY: ONE CAN IDENTIFY FRUIT, LOBSTER CLAWS, CHICKEN BONES, SHELLFISH AND EVEN A TINY MOUSE WHO IS GNAWING WALNUT SHELL WHICH CAN GIVE US AN IDEA OF WHAT THE ROMANS, WE MEAN THE RICH IN THIS CASE, WERE USED TO EAT. CRITICS THEY WRITE CONTEND THAT THE MOSAICS THAT REMNANTS OF A PYTHAGORAS MEAL DESCRIBES A REPRESENT THE TRADITION OF DEATH OF THE LEAVING FOOD AND SO REMNANTS THE UNSWEPT ON THE UNTIL FLOOR POINTS THE FEAST TO THE WAS OVER «MEMENTO BECAUSE THIS MORI» – «REMEMBER FOOD WAS YOU MUST MEANT FOR MORI» SO MAKE THE DEAD THE MOST OF AND THE YOUR LIFE. ANCESTORS. THE REMNANTS OF FOOD ON THE FLOOR REPRESENTED AN OFFERING TO THE ANCESTORS WITHIN THE HOUSEHOLD.

CONSEQUENTELY, THE SPIRITS WOULD BE IRKED IF SWEEPING WAS PREMATURE. s

IN THE MIDDLE AGES THE FOOD, DEPICTED IN WORKS OF ART,

BEGINS TO TAKE A REAL SYMBOLIC VALUE, IT STARTS TO BECOME A TRUE REFLECTION OF A CONSTANTLY EVOLVING SOCIETY. ONE OF THE REPRESENTATIONS OF THE MEDIEVAL ARISTOCRATIC

SOCIETY IS THE TIME OF THE BANQUET.

ON THE TABLE THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF ROASTED MEATS ARE TO INDICATE THE FAVORITE FOOD OF THE NOBLE CLASS. THE WORLD OF THE ARISTOCRATS USED TO DRINK WINE, TO ACCOMPANY RED AND WHITE MEATS, GAME AND LAMB WITH WHEAT BREAD, EGGS AND CHEESE; THE VEGETABLES, LEGUMES AND FRUITS PLAYED A MARGINAL ROLE ON THE RICH TABLES. THE HONEY WAS CONSUMED IN ABUNDANCE.

Botticelli, Nozze di Nastagio degli Onesti, Firenze, Palazzo Pucci THE MOST COMMON COOKING METHOD WAS BOILING, WHICH USED A LOT OF SPICES AND HERBS. IN THE MIDDLE AGES, THE TABLES OF THE RICH WERE PREPARED A RICH RESPECTING PRECISE SYMBOLISM. BANQUET MEANT OPULENCE. THE FOOD WAS CONSIDERED AT THE SAME TIME THE SOURCE OF ALL STREGHT, BUT ALSO OF ALL EVIL, SINCE, ACCORDING TO THE OLOGIANS, IT COULD LEAD TO LUST AND TO PERDITION.

Botticelli, Nozze di Nastagio degi Onesti, Firenze, Palazzo Pucci FOOD ALSO HAD A PRECISE HIERARCHICAL SIGNIFICANCE, AND IT WAS BELIEVED THEN THAT MOST FOOD WERE CLOSER TO GOD, THE GREATER WAS THEIR SPIRITUAL VIRTUES: LEGUMES, FOR EXAMPLE, WERE RESERVED FOR THE COMMON PEOPLE, WHEREAS THE RICH PREFERRED TO SERVE VOLATILE, THAT MOVED IN THE AIR, THE MORE PURE ELEMENT.

underground roots. ON THE CONTRARY THE FRUITS OF THE EARTH WERE CONSIDERED LESS CLOSE TO DIVINE LOVE.

AMONG THEM IT WAS NECESSARY TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE FRUITS OF THE TREES AND THE BULBS AND THE UNDERGROUND ROOTS. IN THE MEDIEVAL DIET, HOWEVER, A PROMINENT ROLE HAD THE BREAD. FOR A LONG TIME THE UPPER CLASSES BECAME ACCUSTOMED TO SPENDING MUCH MONEY TO BRING TO THE TABLE “GRAIN DE PARADIS”, GROWING IN WEST AFRICA.

IT WAS BELIEVED, IN FACT, THAT CERTAIN EXOTIC REGIONS, INHABITED BY SAVAGE TRIBES WHO ATE HUMAN FLESH AND DRANK THE SEA WATER, WERE CLOSE TO HEAVEN ON THE EARTH: SOEATING THE BREAD OF HEAVEN WAS A WAY TO GET CLOSER TO GOD. At the end of the sixteenth century a sociological vision of the period comes through the representation of food in the paintings. The importance is given to the food of the poor or to the differences between the food consumed by the poor and the one consumed by the rich. According to contemporary thinkers, foodstuffs like beans and onions, which are dark in color and grow low to the ground, were suitable only for similarly lowly consumers, like peasants.

An example is given by ANNIBALE CARRACCI in the “THE EATER OF BEANS”

The generous bowl of beans, the dish with different slices of vegetable pancakes, onions and bread is the ordinary food of the peasant meal and are thus an important social document of popular realism In the 16th century food takes on an essential artistic role in representing the main features of society of that period. In this regard, the food of the rich ……. opposed to the food of the poor classes is a unique theme and food becomes the main subject of the artworks.

Author: Vincenzo Campi Name: I mangiatori di ricotta (The ricotta eaters) Location: Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyon (FR), end of 16th century

In this painting characters’ facial expression is deeply emphasized in order to highlight the bliss of the three men as the main theme of this daily life scene imbued with crudeness and vulgarity. Three farmers are in fact pictured while coarsely eating big spoonfuls of ricotta with their mouth rudely opened. Picturing fruits and vegetables as main characters of the painting was a tendency which gained ground during the 17th century. In this period we can find the first still-life paintings which are realized with a great care for details, even for imperfections, in order to symbolize the ephemeral beauty passing with time. Caravaggio’s Canestra di frutta was the first known artwork in which food is the lead character of the painting, rather than an accessory element.

The picture shows a basket painted in a very minutely way, resembling an almost Flemish fashion, especially in wicker intertwining with fruits and leaves. Still life is taken as the subject for representing maggoty or ill fruits and represents both the vanitas of human existence and the transience of life, regarded as a passing gift destined to vanish. Fruit and vegetables are represented in their detail, in their naturalness, in their imperfection, according to indicate beauty corroded by time, the precariousness of life on earth and the cycle of nature.

Food is often used to indicate different epochs and different socio-economic situations( for example, herrings indicate poverty, while grapes wealth) but they assume more and more the role of absolute protagonists of the work in their most diverse forms: from dishes disposed in a more or less casual shape on a tablecloth, to elements which are distributed in a strategic way on the scene, up to structured buildings where food forms a precise pattern. In this context the works of GIUSEPPE ARCIMBOLDO who gives FRUITS and VEGETABLES ANTHROPOMORPHIC SEMBLANCE can be placed.

"L'Ortolano on Ortaggi in una ciotola"- “ The gardener and vegetables in a bowl" (still life reversible)1580-90 Oil on panel Civic Museum Ala Ponzone, Cremona

"La Primavera" - "The Spring" 1573 "L'Inverno" - "The Winter" 1563 Oil on panel

Oil on panel Real Academia de bellas artes Kunsthistorisches Museum de San Fernando Vienna. Madrid.

"L'Estate" - "The Summer" 1563 Oil on panel Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna.

"L'autunno"- "The Autumn"1573 Oil on panel Musee du Louvre Parigi

Walking along the centuries, between 1700 and 1900 Food in canvas assumed the purpose to communicate a deeper message to the viewer.

Giorgio de Chirico continued the still life's trend, with the intention of transmitting the bond between nature, humans and all other living beings. Giorgio de Chirico "Il sogno trasformato" - "The Dream Turns" , 1913 Oil on panel Saint Louis Art Museum Saint Louis The bananas, bursting with life and vividly coloured, contrast strongly with the marble bust and the hard geometry of the rest of the picture. In one of his writings of this time De Chirico refers to the 'happiness of the banana tree, luxury of ripe fruit, golden and sweet'. Fruit and flowers in art are generally a symbol of the briefness and insignificance of human life and pleasures, and here De Chirico may be making a contrast between this and the permanence of art represented by the bust.

However, the combination of the bust and the bananas has an unmistakable sexual significance and they also seem to be a symbol of the forces of life and the sensual delights of this world. Both the bust and the exotic fruits appear in another famous painting De Chirico Coevo and were tied in with the attempt of colonial expansion of Italy to Africa for the conquest of Lybia. From tradition to experimentation:

food art eat art foodscape In the culinary art meals' presentation is very important because, behind the appearance, it stimulates the desire and encourages consumption .

Food art is a conceptual cuisine where technically you dont' cook, but you just create. With food art a real artistic movement that uses food to create an artwork esthetically pleasent was born, taking back the true meaning of food intended as pleasure and conviviality.

Dan Cretu

What's real? As seen with this ice cream cone,the artist left one 'real' coloured item in each picture created in his Brooklyn studio. Tasty sight: A stack of rainbow pancakes are seen changing from Red to purple, a tactic inspired by a child's disinterest to eat Festive: This bowl of spaghetti was made using standard supermarket spaghetti dipped in colourings which easily picked up the bright colours Henry Hargreaves said: 'I'm interested in using food to tell a story. People's food choices and habits tell so much about someone.’ 'I just hope it makes people a little more aware of the way we have been conditioned to act about the way we perceive food.' The project was sparked by an article about a mother whose son was not interested in eating food - until she used bright colours to entice him.

He made the food art in his studio in the city and the work took two afternoons to complete. Everything is edible apart from the purple lettuce, because normal lettuce would not take on the colour.

Henry added: 'We are

repelled by these colours

and assume they must

taste artificial- but in fact they taste exactly the same, as the colouring is odourless and tasteless.’ 'My main goal is to create work that appeals to me and in doing so hope a few other people appreciate it and that it puts a smile on their face and sparks a little conversation.‘

- Henry Hargreaves In the second half of the twentieth century, following the period of socio- political tensions, the role of food in art changes. In the 60s', due to the economic boom, no one eats only food but also images and advertising. The pop art's artists take the food in art, representing it not anymore in its capacity as "natural" but rather in "industrial"as well. The term eat art, meant as "edible art" is coined in 1967 by Daniel Spoerri. Daniel Spoerri Without title 2008 Tableau Piège Andy Warhol 200 Campbell's soup cans(200 scatole di minestra Campbell) 1962 Oil on panel Private Collection New York For Warhol art is a simple mechanical operation which reflects the production systems of industrial civilization. Man's eyes are saturated by advertising and mass products: art can only repeat the monotony and coldness of these "commoditized" immages.

Here Warhol brought together the 32 soup Campbell's varieties and has represented them as a billboard. Warhol wrote: << I painted Campbell's soup because I used to eat these soups. I ate them every day for twenty years. >>

The term foodscape can be defined as "landscape of food." In this art form it does not matter what kind of food is shown but how it is represented.

The greatest exponent is Carl Warner, modern heir of the Arcimboldo and world famous photographer, creator of this art form, in which the goal and the lights have finally replaced the brushes and the canvas, but without losing magic to the finished artwork.

Mountains, forests, waterfalls and seascapes are represented in his works with bread, fruit, vegetables, cheeses, cold cuts and many other delicacies that become the central element of the work differently than in the past. Carl Warner “Tuscan Landscape” Carl Warner “Yellow Oasis” The symbolic meaning of certain food Over the centuries, countless types of food have been represented in various artworks, but some are particularly recurrent, both in ancient and modern age, especially in the paintings of classical inspiration.

The nature's universal emblem is bound to the image of Christ’s Resurrection. THE EGG also represents the cyclical nature of life and the changing of seasons. Piero della Francesca Sacra Conversazione – "Holy Conversation" (Pala di Brera) 1472 Tempera on panel Pinacoteque of Brera Milan

The ostrich egg that stands in the background on the half-dome shaped shell, reminds the egg born from Leda, wife of the King of Sparta, preserved in the Sparta's temple. The Egg is a symbol of birth and rebirth, but it also reminds the virginity of Mary fertilized by the Holy Spirit.

Salvador Dalì "L' Aurora"- "The Aurora" 1948

BREAD is the element which appears both in the secular works : as a symbol of work , honesty, perseverance and patience and in those sacred , indicating the body of Jesus and the unstoppable force of nature .

Salvador Dalì Bread basket

1926 Oil painting on canvas Salvador Dalì museum S.T Petersburg (florida) Juan De Juanes "Gesù con l'Ostia Consacrata" – "Jesus with the Consecrated Host" Second half of the XVI century Valencia

A third in artworks is represented by Often the of Christ, is compared to a bunch of grapes. in profane art instead is associated the god Bacchus, and it is with a state of intoxication which facilitates the with the Divine.

Pierre Mignard The virgin with the grapes.

1640-50 Oil painting on canvas Museè du Louvre Paris

Caravaggio Bacco

1596-97 Oil painting on canvas Uffizi's gallery Firenze

THE APPLE Bertel Thorvaldsen

In Greek mythology it refers to the figure of Venus, goddess of beauty and fertility, and the Three Graces. Finally in the paintings of Paul Cézanne it became the symbol of the daily humble life:

The apples

1889-1890 .Oil painting on canvas THE POMEGRANATE In the classical works as religious ones it is symbol of justice and is often portrayed in the hands of Jesus.

For his many grains also it represents fertility and abundance .

Sandro Botticelli Madonna of the Pomegranate

Detail Pomegranate handheld Jesus

1487 Tempera on panel Uffizi’s Gallery Firenze it indicates the water , source of life and baptism and refers to the biblical episode of the miraculous catch . in Christianity, the fish is a symbol of Jesus Christ , seen as the forerunner of the age of fish . It also symbolizes faith , purity and the Virgin Mary THE FISH It indicates the water , source of life and baptism and refers to the biblical episode of the miraculous catch . In Christianity, the fish is a symbol of Jesus Christ , seen as the forerunner of the age of fish . It also symbolizes faith , purity and the Virgin Mary.

Raffaello Miraculous Catch

1515-16 Tempera on cardboard Victoria and Albert museum – Londra FOOD AND ART CONNECT THE MAIN EVENTS OF HISTORY AND ARE SYMBOLS FOR ALL AGES

As a Metaphor for the submission of nature but Also of the primordial needs of man , food Becomes a Vehicle of Simple and immediate Communication to observers who may draw, from images, not only the important information on the age of Reference , but also messages hidden in the same pictures , in a constant exchange of More or Less evident meanings in which the Past and the Present look at future thanks to the immortality of the works of the great artists of yesterday , today and tomorrow . FOOD IN SICILIAN PAINTINGS Food has had a special role in the paintings of sicilian painters. BRUNO CARUSO (1927) Il ragazzo con il cesto di frutta/The boy with a fruit basket Cassata e farfalle/ Cassata and butterflies

mixed technique on cardboard

GIOVANNI BECCHINA (1909 - 2001) Grazia di Dio/God's Grace Bread is sacred food and basic element of this ancient culture . Gianbecchina calls it the grace of God and with his artistic sensitivity sets it in the countryside , against the backdrop of the fields from which it comes , fruit of the earth hardly cultivated , primary 1979 invention of the humanity . Oil painting on canvas

Sfornata/ Baked

An old oven in Arab style , where the bread is cooked with only the residual heat of dry branches , helping busy women and children ; anyone has it has its own role in the peasents' world . Each tool has its own function , everything has its own time . Inside a kitchen of other times , an ancient collective rite is perpetuated every day.

1980 Oil painting on canvas

Pomegranates

RENATO GUTTUSO (1911 - 1987) Vucciria This is considered Guttuso's most famous painting . The picture with gritty and bloody realism as in the meat exposed in the homonymous market of Palermo , expresses one of the many souls of the Sicilian city , and is so strong the artist's sign and sense of color that the wiever can feel and perceive the scent of local products displayed on the stands : ingredients for the tasty Sicilian cooking .

1974 – oil panting on canvas Palazzo Steri - Palermo Peperoni steal nature

1970 1983 Oil panting on canvas Oil panting on canvas

1966 Oil panting on canvas In This presentation we have shown the way and the deeper meaning that food has had in the artistic representation from ancient times to today. We have tried to show you how artists have thought and seen the food throughout history . The food has changed the habits of the species evolving humanity both socially and culturally and art, in all its forms, offers us a visual overview of these great changes.