Feast for the Eyes: The Story of Food in Photography


Comprehensive exhibition at the Photographers’ Gallery looking at food photography.

The show looked at how eating is mundane and carnal but central to ritual, religion and celebration and how photographs about food are rarely about food. It looked at how still life of food, which had always been a popular genre of art, translated into the world of photography.

I was most attracted to the early photographs, having recently done a course on the relationship between art and photography, so it was great to see a lovely Roger Fenton of a decanter and fruit from the 1850s as well as Charles Jones’ wonderful picture of lettuces from 1900.

The section on sharing food had a fun focus in picnics including a photo of a picnic being held across the Mexican border and a Tony Ray Jones from 1967 of Glyndebourne with evening dressed diners at a picnic table with cows behind.

There was a good section on the history of photography for cookery books with a nice array of examples from across the years and a look at the role of free advertising cookbooks and leaflets for products which sold a lifestyle. It also included a wonderful set of Weight Watchers cards.

The picture used here is of frozen fruit by Irving Penn from 1977. I loved the colours plus the way it transforms the organic shapes into standard blocks but it also has a sense of what is about to happen next and the mess that will follow.

Closes 9 February 2020

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