The Museum of Modern Art Artists' Cookbook ~ Madeleine Conway and Nancy Kirk

An interesting book. Published in 1977 the book is spiral bound and features black and white photographs of the artists rather than the dishes they cook. It is arranged in chapters for each of the thirty featured artists, each of which features an introduction to the artist and their food philosophy followed by the recipes they share.


For a book which is as much about the artists as the food, there are some pleasantly surprising recipes in the book. Richard Estes for instance shares his Baked eggplant with cheese and Robert Motherwell his Truffle omelette for one and Crab-meat soufflé. Personally I am happy to judge an artist by their approach to food, so whilst I really like Tom Wesselmann for his Banana-pineapple bread, Zucchini soup and Lemon sponge pudding, I am less enamored of Andy Warhol who simply shares his Campbell's milk of tomato soup and whose "dream of a meal is toast and tea, or maybe boiled chicken". I am also a bit put off by Roy Lichtenstein who tries hard to be either smart or funny (and I think he misses on both counts) professing his favourite recipe to be Primordial soup and even providing a recipe - it makes him seem rather a touch too into himself. I guess that is the prerogative of the successful artist though.

Recommended for arty types who like to sit in little cafe's wearing beret's and drinking red wine.

- Kath