Note on Food
A note on food culture.
This note from LeRoy Neiman looks at food culture, with a special attention to the American West. The first half of the writing lists of restaurants and casinos in Dallas and Las Vegas, respectively; the names of these institutions are latent with ersatz. The document then closes with the artist’s discussion between performative and labor divisions between the front and back of the house.
LeRoy Neiman
LeRoy Neiman Foundation
LeRoy Neiman Foundation
c. 1990-2011
LeRoy Neiman
Property of the LeRoy Neiman Foundation; please consult the organization's archivist for further details.
Notes
Image/jpeg
English
Document
LN_Notes_2964
New York (N.Y.) New York
Note on Food
A note on leisure culture and food.
This note from Leroy Neiman provides a selection of food related scenes, related for the most part to leisure culture. That said, the document makes the connection between these two topics tacitly. Notably, the note singles out two New York city standbys—PJ Clarke’s and Rao’s, both of which were located uptown, near the artist’s home. The writing also mentions Swedish cuisine and fly fishing.
LeRoy Neiman
LeRoy Neiman Foundation
LeRoy Neiman Foundation
c. 1990-2011
LeRoy Neiman
Property of the LeRoy Neiman Foundation; please consult the organization's archivist for further details.
Notes
Image/jpeg
English
Document
LN_Notes_2963
New York (N.Y.) New York
Note on Food
A note on food and food culture.
This note from LeRoy Neiman provides winding, fragmentary commentary on food and food culture. One side of the document speaks more directly to social dynamics in the restaurant industry (referring to the plight of the “wage class” as well as the “hunger” of the waiter—hunger for tips, that is). The other side of the writing, however, proves more aesthetically oriented; this side contains: firstly—a kind of loose narration, or description, of hunting small game, and secondly—a brief description of Neiman sketching in a restaurant context. The note although in no way total, speaks to the overlap of Neiman’s aesthetic and sociological interests.
LeRoy Neiman
LeRoy Neiman Foundation
LeRoy Neiman Foundation
c. 1990-2011
LeRoy Neiman
Property of the LeRoy Neiman Foundation; please consult the organization's archivist for further details.
Notes
Image/jpeg
English
Document
LN_Notes_2961_01; LN_Notes_2961_02
New York (N.Y.) New York
Note on Food
A note on waitstaff.
This note from LeRoy Neiman concerns, for the most part, restaurant waitstaff. In the document, the artist describes these workers as laborers that not only serve food but more importantly mediate (or blur) divisions between classes, and by extension "high" and "low" culture, through performatively serving as an “arm” of the restaurant. The artist continues on, describing the unideal working conditions faced by this workforce (something not afforded to the diners). Overall, the document then speaks to the artist's not solely aesthetic but also sociological interest in the restaurant as subject.
LeRoy Neiman
LeRoy Neiman Foundation
LeRoy Neiman Foundation
c. 1990-2011
LeRoy Neiman
Property of the LeRoy Neiman Foundation; please consult the organization's archivist for further details.
Notes
Image/jpeg
English
Document
LN_Notes_2959
New York (N.Y.) New York
Note on Food
A list of food related artworks, by others.
This note from LeRoy Neiman looks at a selection of artists that took an aesthetic interest in food, or dining scenes. Among the artists listed are the french Jean-Baptiste Oudry, Paul Cézanne, Degas, and Monet, as well as one of Neiman’s personal favorites, van Ostade. The note—although not made in conjunction with any one of Neiman’s artworks or set of artworks—can be understood as an abridged set of references for the artist’s own food related works.
LeRoy Neiman
LeRoy Neiman Foundation
LeRoy Neiman Foundation
c. 1990-2011
LeRoy Neiman
Property of the LeRoy Neiman Foundation; please consult the organization's archivist for further details.
Notes
Image/jpeg
English
Document
LN_Notes_2958
New York (N.Y.) New York
Note on Food
A note on the dress of chefs.
This note from LeRoy Neiman (scrawled on the back of a notice for the elections of the Friar Club’s Board of Governors) gives a rundown of chefs' normative dress, in the form of a kind of quasi-checklist. This garb list includes, but is not limited to: a chef toque, clogs, checkered trousers, kerchief, and apron. The note closes with, “With this (chef) man, so attired, enters dining room of a great restaurant it is an event for the diners.” Overall, the note then seems to be hitting on the performative agency of this occupational wear—or costuming.
LeRoy Neiman
LeRoy Neiman Foundation
LeRoy Neiman Foundation
c. 1990-2011
LeRoy Neiman
Property of the LeRoy Neiman Foundation; please consult the organization's archivist for further details.
Notes
Image/jpeg
English
Document
LN_Notes_2957_01; LN_Notes_2957_02
New York (N.Y.) New York
Note on Food
A note on the theatre of fine dining.
This note on food from LeRoy Neiman explores the performative nature of fine dining. Furthermore, the through line of this poetic, fragmented writing seems to be the haute cuisine’s focus on timing. Neiman has ornamented the document with an illustration of a gravestone (1921-20); the artist was born in 1921.
LeRoy Neiman
LeRoy Neiman Foundation
LeRoy Neiman Foundation
c. 1990-2011
LeRoy Neiman
Property of the LeRoy Neiman Foundation; please consult the organization's archivist for further details.
Notes
Image/jpeg
English
Document
LN_Notes_2956_01; LN_Notes_2956_02
New York (N.Y.) New York
Note on Food
A note on fish, and fly fishing.
This note (written on top the title page of Cam Sigler’s <em>Guide to Fly Fishing,</em> from 1997) provides a playful musing on fish, and more specifically fly fishing. The document is chock-full of pseudo-cerebral sayings such as, “kiss a fish”, “think like a fish”, “the art of wooing a fish”, and “what the fish said”. Parallel to these phrases, Neiman has listed as set of actions related to fishing (e.g. “strike / fish bites”, “net the fish”, “it takes more skill to return a fish safely (undamaged)”). The artist was self-professedly poor at fly fishing.
LeRoy Neiman
LeRoy Neiman Foundation
LeRoy Neiman Foundation
c. 1990-2011
LeRoy Neiman
Property of the LeRoy Neiman Foundation; please consult the organization's archivist for further details.
Notes
Image/jpeg
English
Document
LN_Notes_2955_01; LN_Notes_2955_02
New York (N.Y.) New York
Note on Food
A note on waitstaff.
This note from LeRoy Neiman looks at staff in the restaurant industry. The tacit list is peppered with a variety of aesthetic comments (e.g. hand sewn buttons - Check trousers - kerchief / Toque name on jacket) and poetic turns of phrase (i.e. “You can judge a restaurant by its waiter / Not created in high culture / on their feet until their legs give out) that point to the artist’s artistic investment in these subjects. Although not made in preparation for any one artwork, the note can be seen as both preparatory and reflective on his food related pieces.
LeRoy Neiman
LeRoy Neiman Foundation
LeRoy Neiman Foundation
c. 1990-2011
LeRoy Neiman
Property of the LeRoy Neiman Foundation; please consult the organization's archivist for further details.
Notes
Image/jpeg
English
Document
LN_Notes_2954
New York (N.Y.) New York
Note on Food
A note on food and leisure culture.
This note from LeRoy Neiman looks at the position of food in leisure culture. The document itself is comprised of a variety of fragmented images from elite settings (e.g. “your food is being plated as hurried to the table”, “Well healed older men of financial position”, “cosmopolitan opulence”, and “velvet rope”), which tacitly point to both the artist’s process of seeing as well as acknowledgement of said images in a larger social frame. Overall, the document is then testament not only to Neiman’s method but also his persistent sociological interests.
LeRoy Neiman
LeRoy Neiman Foundation
LeRoy Neiman Foundation
c. 1990-2011
LeRoy Neiman
Property of the LeRoy Neiman Foundation; please consult the organization's archivist for further details.
Notes
Image/jpeg
English
Document
LN_Notes_2953
New York (N.Y.) New York