The Fruits of Empire: Art, Food, and Racism
Advance registration is required.
This is event is being held online. After registering, connection information will be emailed to you.
Still-life paintings of food look innocent at first sight. Pictures of bowls bulging with oranges and grapes were fashionable in American dining rooms, but were fruits merely delicious gems in pretty pictures to admire? The Fruits of Empire argues otherwise.
This lecture with scholar Shana Klein will discuss her research on representations of food to understand how they reflected and shaped conversations about race and national expansion in the United States. In her book, Klein asks: Who do images of food serve? And at whose expense? The results are not always delicious.
Program Support
The fall's Art-at-Noon lectures are supported by the Behrend Family in memory of Rose Susan Hirschhorn Behrend, a former docent at the Academy and great supporter of its education programs.