Artists

Among the many artworks at the Detroit Institute of Arts, I was on the lookout for something to do with food. On today's visit we concentrated on the modern and late 19th century European galleries, and a few Asian works. A small collection of ceramic tea bowls from Japan made me think of the tea ceremony and associated kaiseki dinners. Matisse's tea party evokes related thoughts, with its exotic and somewhat dubious atmosphere. Jeff Koons' work "Bread with Egg" is an odd one -- but no doubt in some way, it's about food. The old masters in other parts of the museum were much more directly engaged with depictions of food. I wonder about this.