Join the WashU Alumni Association for a virtual conversation featuring Shana Klein, AB ’05, author of The Fruits of Empire: Art, Food and the Politics of Race in the Age of American Expansion. Angela Miller, professor of Art History and Archaeology, will be moderating the event.

Still-life paintings of food look innocent at first sight. Pictures of bowls bulging with oranges and grapes were fashionable in American dining rooms, but were fruits merely delicious gems in pretty pictures to admire? The Fruits of Empire argues otherwise. This book talk will discuss Klein's research on representations of food to understand how they reflected and shaped conversations about race and national expansion in the United States. In a moderated discussion, Klein will discuss the paintings, photographs, and silverware objects in her book and ask: Who do images of food serve? And at whose expense? The results are not always delicious.

Register to attend

Join the WashU Alumni Association for a virtual conversation featuring Shana Klein, AB ’05, author of The Fruits of Empire: Art, Food and the Politics of Race in the Age of American Expansion. Angela Miller, professor of Art History and Archaeology, will be moderating the event.

Still-life paintings of food look innocent at first sight. Pictures of bowls bulging with oranges and grapes were fashionable in American dining rooms, but were fruits merely delicious gems in pretty pictures to admire? The Fruits of Empire argues otherwise. This book talk will discuss Klein's research on representations of food to understand how they reflected and shaped conversations about race and national expansion in the United States. In a moderated discussion, Klein will discuss the paintings, photographs, and silverware objects in her book and ask: Who do images of food serve? And at whose expense? The results are not always delicious.

Register to attend