Food in Paintings: A Tasting Menu

Wednesday 1 November 2023 at 2.00 pm at the Lowther Pavilion.  Guests may attend the lecture – £10 pp (pay on door)

The lecture notes leaflet can be downloaded/printed here

Lecturer: Cindy Polemis

This is Cindy’s first visit to The Arts Society Fylde. She is an art historian, independent lecturer and art guide. She has a BA in Modern History from Oxford University and as a mature student she went back to university to study first for a BA and then for a Masters in History of Art at Birkbeck College, London University. Before that she spent many years as a radio producer and presenter for the BBC World Service working in news and current affairs. Since 2016 Cindy has worked as an official art guide at Tate Britain and Tate Modern. She has also been a trustee at the Museum of the Home, formerly the Geffrye Museum. Cindy has accumulated a wide range of art historical knowledge ranging from 18th European and British art to the contemporary international art scene. She has been an official guide for both Frieze Masters and Frieze Art Fairs in London. She is particularly keen to draw parallels with art and social history and her lectures are accessible and engaging, drawing out the stories of art and artists which are steeped in human emotions and experiences which we all share.

The Lecture

Food is essential to survival – and it’s certainly one of the great pleasures of life. No surprise artists have chosen it as motifs in their works… But there’s a lot more to food paintings than meets the eye. I will present a veritable tasting menu for you to unravel the meaning of these images.

Caption: Still-Life with Fruit, Nuts and Cheese, by Floris van Dyck (Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)