The Modern Dinner Party: six artists' cookbooks to inspire your Thanksgiving feast
With Thanksgiving just around the corner, we’ve selected six of our favourite artists’ cookbooks to inspire the ultimate Modern feast.
Salvador Dali’s ‘Les Dîners de Gala’
Having declared at the age of six that he wanted to be a chef, Dali is widely known for having thrown opulent, theatrical dinner parties with his wife, Gala. His cookbook, first published in 1973, is just as outlandish as his iconic Surrealist paintings, filled with delights including ‘Frog Pasties’, ‘Thousand Year Old Eggs’ and ‘Toffee with Pinecones’.
‘The Artists’ & Writers’ Cookbook’
Published in 1961, this is perhaps the ultimate recipe compendium for creatives. The lavish 350-page volume contains over 220 recipes by painters, novelists, sculptors and poets including May Ray, John Keats, Marcel Duchamp and Harper Lee.
Filippo Marinetti’s ‘Futurist Cookbook’
Originally published in 1932, this is arguably more of a provocative artistic manifesto than a functional cookbook. Marinetti sets out his argument that people ‘think, dream and act according to what they eat and drink’. In it he lays out the 11 requirements for the ideal Futurist meal, which include ‘absolute originality in the food’, ‘the abolition of the knife and fork’ and the ‘use in prescribed doses of poetry and music as surprise ingredients’.
Andy Warhol and Suzie Frankfurt’s ‘Wild Raspberries’
Proving his culinary prowess goes beyond Campbell’s soup, a young Andy Warhol, in collaboration with interior designer Suzie Frankfurt, painstakingly produced 34 full-colour cookbooks in the early 1960s. The handmade books were designed to mock the fashionable French cuisine publications that were mass-produced during the 1950s. Despite their efforts the books remained unpublished until ‘Wild Raspberries’ was rediscovered by Frankfurt’s son in 1997.
‘Dinner with Jackson Pollock’
Although Jackson Pollock never intended his recipes for publication, Robyn Lea’s 2015 volume brings together the numerous handwritten recipes discovered in the Abstract Expressionist’s pantry from the 1950s. Revealing an unexpectedly domestic side to the somewhat notorious artist, the book even includes his award-winning apple pie recipe, having won him first place in a local pie-baking competition.
Olafur Eliasson’s ‘The Kitchen’
Contemporary artist Olafur Elisasson brings his studio together every day for a communal lunch, to ignite artistic discussion. Bringing the artists’ cookbook into the 21st century, this volume features over 100 vegetarian recipes cooked at the studio kitchen, focused on conviviality, nourishment and inspiration.
Read more: Feast Your Eyes: six beautiful dining rooms perfect for any festive dinner
My Modern House: supper club extraordinaire Hanna Geller Goldsmith shows us around her reimagined 1930s home in Maida Vale
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