Grad school project for course in History of American Illustration

Project: Create 4 illustrations, each illustration is to reflect the style of an illustrator from a specific decade. Each illustration is to feature a person whose fame reached a peak in that decade (the four people must be from a related field).

My topic: Four Famous Chefs from 1890's-1920's

1890’s – Auguste Escoffier – Thomas Nast Illustrator

1890’s – Auguste Escoffier, aka “chef of kings”, worked at the Savoy Hotel, invented recipes for “peche Melba” (peach melba) and “Melba Toast”(in honor of Australian singer Nellie Melba). Wrote and published Le Guide Culinaire in which he include with the recipes the cooking techniques with approaches to kitchen management and organization. His cookbook’s success helped to popularize and update traditional French cooking methods.

1900’s – Fannie Farmer – Will H. Bradley Illustrator

1900’s – Fannie Merritt Farmer, from a wealthy Boston family, was expected to go to college but at age 16 suffered a paralytic stroke. Due to a slow recovery she remained at home and took up cooking. She eventually turned her mother’s home into a boarding house that became well known for Farmer’s excellent food.  This success enabled her to begin teaching and she helped to write the The Boston Cooking School Cook Book. In 1902 she created Miss Farmer’s School of Cookery and wrote her own cookbook. Farmer provided scientific explanations of the chemical processes that occur in food during cooking. She also helped to standardize the system of measurements used in cooking in the USA.

1910’s – Ettore Boiardi – Howard Chandler Christy Illustrator

1910’s – Ettore Boiardi, in 1916 started cooking at the Plaza Hotel – New York but left after a fight with his chef brother. At age 24, his entrepreneurial spirit helped him to open his first restaurant Il Giardino d’Italia Cafe in Cleveland, Ohio’s Little Italy. The patrons frequently asked for samples and recipes of his spaghetti sauce, which he gave to customers in old milk bottles.

1920’s – George Rector – John Held Jr. Illustrator

1920’s – George Rector was a successful restaurateur, raconteur and authority on food. He wrote several cookbooks in the 1920’s and had his own radio show “Dine with George Rector” on the Columbia Broadcasting System. In 1928 he was retained as the Director of Dining Car Cuisine on the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, Pacific Railroad.