food art

A leading expert of the daguerreotype started photographing a gardener's collection of heirloom vegetables 15 years ago. They've published a book to honor the unusual varieties in the collection.

In 19th-century Japan, fishermen found a foolproof way to record trophy catches: a "fish rubbing" inked onto paper, creating a permanent record of their size. Gyotaku soon evolved into fine art.

Absinthe was a favorite of artists like Picasso and Van Gogh. Perhaps that explains why a complex ritual rose around drinking it, spawning some of the most beautiful alcohol paraphernalia around.

Ever splashed yourself with coffee? Then you know its staining powers. But where some see a ruined shirt, others have found a canvas.

Artist Lauren Garfinkel creates indelible images on edible canvases. Some are silly (Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as a nacho supreme), others haunting. All offer food for thought on current events.

During Prohibition, booze was banned, but "medicinal" spirits weren't, a loophole whiskey makers exploited. That's just one of the tidbits a new book tracing the history of whiskey labels reveals.

Once the province of nobles, food sculptures became the art of the people in America. Nowhere is this truer than the butter sculpture, a form that is at once familiar and impressive.

Elaborately illustrated napkins. Famous paintings re-created using food. Depending on your viewpoint, these lunch projects are an expression of parental love or another salvo in the parenting wars.

From Goya to Banksy, artists through the centuries have tackled modernity and its discontents through depictions of eating outdoors.

Two new books focus on the culinary lives of these two artists. Turns out, their approaches to food provide a new way of thinking about their two very different approaches to art.