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‘To feel gratitude and not express it, is like wrapping a present and not giving it…’
- Walt Whitman
Yes, it’s all about Thanksgiving week, the fourth week of November, getting ready for the iconic feast, with markets crammed with Black Friday sales, hot deals, glitzy ads, and rush-hour calls for shopping. For artists, it has been an inspiration to honor the spirit of the event, be it with DIY paper turkeys or classy oil paintings dating back to the 1621 pilgrim meeting of the ‘First Thanksgiving at Plymouth’. It is no less fascinating to journey through the changing faces of the warm familial bonding over the feast to the widespread consumerist extravagance and to see the farce it has become over the years.
This blog looks back to some brilliant Thanksgiving painting on canvas to show the joy and abundance of the harvest season, and on top of that, the sense of appreciation that is shared on the table full of hearty meals (with a pinch of sarcasm). While you will be busy planning seven-course meals and restaurant hopping with pals, let’s throwback to some of the remarkable paintings dedicated to the day of Thanksgiving and unlock the stories behind. It’s always great to have an artist’s take on life with brush and color, as they are the real chroniclers. So, let’s dig into some quirky facts related to the quintessential food art for Thanksgiving before you binge on the blessed turkey, pumpkin pie and corn puddings!
Why Did Thanksgiving Day Matter At All?
The famous three days’ feast of the Pokanoket (Wampanoag) Indians and the British settlers at Plymouth in 1621 was established as an official holiday not until 1863, by the American President Abraham Lincoln. And the campaign for the official stature of the day started long before that, in the 1830s by Sarah J. Hale, a famous magazine editor pitching for the same. President Lincoln felt the pressing need for declaration of a National Day of Thanksgiving just to remind the Americans facing an imminent Civil War to retain peace amongst the states and relive the golden past of harvest and harmony all over again. So, that was the call!
The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth: Jennie Augusta Brownscombe (1914)
This painting by Jennie Augusta Browncombe has been a chronicle of the three day long health and harvest feast shared between the pilgrims and the Native American tribes, in the year 1621 at Plymouth to celebrate the settlers’ first year of survival and harvest. It was probably the most celebrated Thanksgiving picture romanticized by the painter, with a table of feast shared with the Native American Wampanoag Indians, showcasing the mellow beauty of autumn and the serenity of the landscape as a backdrop with the glowing gratitude on the imaginary faces.
Jean Leon Gerome Ferris: Thanksgiving Painting, Oil on Canvas (1912-1915)
This also shows the picture of the puritan British settlers distributing meals to the native American people (the Wampanoag tribes), sharing the first harvest as the indigenous people had helped the settlers in hunting and procuring food and vegetables. This painting triggers some of the uneasy domains of the superiority of the settlers portrayed in the picture, as the native people are seen seated on the ground, with the dogs, raising doubts about the legitimacy of the encounter between the settlers and the indigenous people. It glorified the spirit behind Thanksgiving while trying to conceal the bloodshed and violence attempted earlier on the Wampanoags, during which the native people were traded as slaves in the overseas marketplaces!
Thanksgiving, Doris Lee (1935)
The next legendary Thanksgiving painting is of Doris Lee in a witty sort of portrayal of the preparation of the feast. It shows the real hustle of a kitchen scene where meals are getting prepared, with all warmth and sweat. Women and children in the painting can be seen amidst the quick rolling of the dough, preparing of the bird, and the rush for getting the dishes, that quite stormed the art fraternity of that time, being a ridiculous and obscene portrayal of the mundane. The painting is vibrant with every detail from the women peeling vegetables to rolling the dough, to children clinging to the kitchen table to take part in the preparation of the feast, adding a strange animation to the theme of getting together.
The focus of Doris Lee was more on depicting the behind-the-scenes story rather than the objects of the meal in the time of the Great Depression of 1929. Intriguing enough, this painting was scorned at the prestigious 46th Art Exhibition of American Art and Sculpture by the patron of the Logan prize, Mrs. Hancock Logan! She found it awfully modern to depict the mundane domesticity, though it earned Doris much fame and attracted more viewers who would throng to witness what was so obscene and ridiculous in the picture.
Freedom from Want, Norman Rockwell, 1943, Oil Painting
‘Freedom from Want,’ one of the celebrated paintings of the ‘Four Freedoms’ series by Norman Rockwell, done in the backdrop of the Second World War is another quintessential Thanksgiving painting. The painting shares the idea of president Franklin D. Roosevelt’s speech on the freedom to access food, clothing, and shelter for every American. It revolves around a sumptuously roasted turkey on the dinner table - a cozy picture of an idealized American household, where the head of the family, both the matriarch and the patriarch are seen with a shared meal. The painting has minuscule descriptions, detailing of the food and the dishes kept on the table, including the texture of the China dishes and crockeries, the white table cloth, the transparent water in the glass, etc. To add to the fine touches are the faces anticipating a hearty meal, with the roasted turkey giving a sense of contentment and nostalgia.
Though it was a much talked about painting of his times, Rockwell himself had some reservations about this Thanksgiving portrait of exuberance and opulence when Europe was facing the worst brunt of the Second World War, with people starving for months. The lavish and large turkey on the plate was to him a sharp contrast to the want for food that people had. Still, it is a prime reference to familial ties in times of celebrations.
Contemporary Thanksgiving Art: John Currin and Thanksgiving (2003)
Currin’s portrayal of the Thanksgiving Day invariably raises brows as it questions the relevance of the whole perception of the feast, mocking the widespread consumerism and excessive greed in the American mass. Currin’s interpretation of get-togethers have been shifted from family-centric themes to the portrayal of three unusual looking women, in three different poses, centered around a dead and cold turkey, in a pool of blood, replacing the steaming and cooked one. Currin has tried pulling off the intricate style of the Renaissance masters, justifying the unreal looking figures just like pin-ups, with rich tonalities of reality as his interpretation of a Thanksgiving scene. The painting has a crafty undertone of the three stages of life, from origin to decay, just like the consumerist attitude focuses on the vicious cycle of buying, using and discarding things without being grateful for them. This is a crude and harsh truth painted through this contemporary masterpiece.
Self Portrait with Wine Glass (Gluttony), Kent Bellows on Thanksgiving, (2000)
Kent Bellows’ ‘Self Portrait with Wine Glass’ can be a perfect piece of art to mock the commercial hangover associated with the Thanksgiving feast. In this super-realistic painting, he tries to accentuate the drama and anxiety of the whole theme of the feast, with a lavish spread over, a perfect picture of greed and excess. Light has a very vital role to play in heightening the extravagance of the tableware, shine of the silver crockeries, the fabric, the rich assortment of foods, the bottles of wine, adding more to the superfluous feasting without any soul. The basic ideal of getting together around hearty meals, showing gratitude and sharing blessings has been challenged, giving way to conspicuous consumption and an obsession for possession. This is an intriguing portrayal of haplessness, immersed in luxury and abundance of modern times.
Food Art Thanksgiving: Rekindling the Nostalgia of Thankfulness
Right from the historical depiction of the 1621 Plymouth pilgrims’ feast to the contemporary portrayal of disgust, Thanksgiving painting and portrayals have traveled through diverse alleys and crossroads. One thing has been very clear that the nature of the feast and the perceptions are rapidly evolving with time. Still, there remains an insatiable need to connect in the time of altered realities, re-emphasizing the meaning of gratitude and community feeling. The day is here to remind us of life’s simple joy and blessings that make the whole occasion a kaleidoscope of emotions. Through these remarkable and beautiful Thanksgiving paintings and art pieces of the feast, these phenomenal artists have tried to preserve the profound tradition (with a tinge of satire), making the moment eternal, to connect, to share and celebrate life’s little splendors that come with no price tags!
So, let's celebrate this day with all heart and stomach. And stop worrying about gaining a few more pounds between Thanksgiving and the New Year's Day!!
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