We’ve got three of these original 1960s recipe artworks heading for the web shop this week. Aren’t they fabulous?
Each one has a recipe for a cocktail or dessert incorporated into a wonderful hand-decorated art illustration.
They’re the work of ‘Pati’ who produced them for Soovia Janis Inc of New York. They’re just three of a very large series of works. You’d do very well to track them all down. If you’re a complete-ist who can’t stand not having an entire set of something, tread carefully before you embark on collecting these… it might be a life-long quest!
It might be worth it though as they’re so gorgeous. Imagine a wall full of these – what a riot of colour and swirls. Most people will make do with a smaller collection – or a single picture for that perfect spot in the kitchen, bar or dining area. Your choice might come down to which colour design suited your existing décor… or a favourite cocktail maybe. In fact, a whole row of cocktail recipes along a bar would look great… no stop, now we’re mentally making a collection. They’re supposed to be for sale. We haven’t got a bar anyway!
Each has their original painted wooden frames and labels to reverse – and measure 42cm x 22cm. They’ll be listed in the web shop soon. However, if you want first dibs as a reader of our blog, just send us a message. They’re £55 each or £140 for the three.
The book charts the history of menu design in America in the 19th & 20th centuries.
The menus featured inevitably incorporate the evolution & development of food.
But they also draw in American and social history, politics, immigration, civil rights, prohibition, social taboos & norms for various eras – some of which can be eye openers.
Fans of graphic design, illustration and typography will also be in heaven!
There’s a broad subject overview at the start of the book, followed by further insightful captions on each page.
They add details for specific venues or menus – artists/designers, who owned/frequented an establishment, its popularity, dates, details about the food – chefs, new introductions, where items may have been sourced etc.
In some cases, there are accompanying photographs of the actual restaurant locations, buildings, interiors and the diners themselves.
The menus are the real stars of this book, of course. There are nearly 400 pages crammed full of fabulous examples. Both the stunning covers and their menu contents will give hours of visual pleasure.
We’ve included lots of images for this post, but even this is only a small portion of those contained within the book.
Art Nouveau to Art Deco, Jazz age to Space age – it’s all in here!
The menus are sourced from hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, diners, steamships, cruise ships, trains & planes.
We know one thing though – after browsing this book for an hour we were starving!
Some of the menus had up to a hundred items from which to choose.
There are familiar dishes such as steaks & burgers (done in a myriad of different ways, of course).
Others have choices that were new to us – ‘stewed terrapin with hominy’, ‘fried smelts with figaro sauce’, ‘calf’s head en tortue’.
There are enjoyable aspects to take from all the menus – our favourites in terms of design & artwork are those dating from the 1930s and the 1950s. There’s a few in this book we’d love to add to our collection.
We love both the artwork and browsing the dishes on offer. They can be stored in a folder, but also look great framed – and as you can see from the wonderful examples in this book, the designs can be just stunning.
So we were sold even before opening a page, but if you are a newcomer to the subject, this book can be enjoyed as pure eye candy or will provide a fascinating insight into the history of a nation through its culinary culture.
Mouth-watering stuff – we can highly recommend it!
Menu Design in America, 1850-1985 is also available from Hive and Amazon.
[Many thanks to Taschen for the supply of this review copy]
In it, we promised some more photos from a recent acquisition – This is New York.
The book was published in 1960 and, as per usual, the illustrations are fabulous!
New York is one of those cities that works particularly well…
…with it’s distinctive buildings, day to day goings on and familiar characters.
The artist captures the 1950s/60s era – the sights and the vibrancy of the city.
We had a 10-day holiday there a few years ago. It had changed a bit since Sasek wrote these books but lots of the unmistakable landmarks and energy of the city were still there.
Flicking through these pages reminds us of the great time we had – hopefully we’ll get back there again one day…
…and it would be a real dream to cruise up the Hudson river to arrive in real style!
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