I lived in a Florida town that prides itself on its culture. In addition to sun and sand, there is a highbrow approach to art and life. I have a reasonably highbrow and I enjoyed visiting the local art museum. The museum was founded by John Ringling, the owner of The Ringling Brothers Circus. To define himself as a man of taste beyond clowns and elephants, Mr. Ringling collected highbrow art. He chose Rubens and his collection of Rubens is the foundation for the local art museum. Rubens are not just big; they are colossal in size. One painting, The Sabine Women is 16 feet high and 20 feet wide. The rape of the Sabine women is an odd topic because most of the paintings have a religious theme.
Scattered among the religious Rubens are still life paintings. If you ask the average American, me included, what type of painting is a ‘still life,’ most people will tell you that ‘still life’ is a bowl of fruit, or a vase with flowers and a bowl of fruit, or maybe some veggies and a bowl of fruit. Not so. The original use of the term ‘still life’ meant dead. Definitely still. Before the animal rights movement, artists happily painted dead pheasants draped across a table, or perhaps a shot duck, now brought inside and arranged with care on a slab of marble. Dare I say, I don’t like it. I guess I was not meant to be an art connoisseur or museum critic. I am too critical. Because art is everywhere and not just in the art museum, I recently applied my critical nature to the critique of kitchen art.
Kitchen art is unique because it is usually different than what people have in the rest of the house. Poultry reign supreme in kitchen art and recently I saw a perfect example. Beautifully mounted and framed were two lithographs of a hen and a rooster. Picture 1: Mr. Rooster is on the left, mom hen is on the right. Picture 2: Mom hen is on the left, and daddy rooster is on the right. This is very exciting. The proud poultry are well represented, with details and shading that evoke images of eggs rather than how great you look before being battered and fried.
Ducks are a popular subject for Long Island and New England kitchen art. Mallard ducks deck the walls of East Hampton kitchens. Kitchen art is used to enhance Country Kitchen décor, a style which is not ‘the farm’ but the farmer’s market. The microwave is tastefully hidden. There is no black, or chrome. The emphasis is rustic, but not so rustic as to be authentic. This is not the kitchen where we slaughter hens, or better put it is not the kitchen where we handle newly slaughtered hens by removing the feathers. This is where we make them into a yummy meal using fresh ingredients, herbs and spices. Enhanced with baskets, not too many, just one here and one there, add at least one piece of copper cookware, a dash of blue and white china, a few wooden spoons, a large whisk and what you have is a look that is warm, delicious, and what time is dinner? (Fried chicken, maybe?)
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