Getty Museum

Untitled (Chocolate Éclair) #13

Date

1993

Medium

Silver-dye bleach print

Culture

American

Department

Photographs

Institution

Getty Museum

>The linear-shaped dessert sinks into a pale purple fabric, with a soft, golden paisley pattern swirling around. There are a few gentle rolling folds in the elegant fabric to reiterate the éclair's form and weight. > >--Jo Ann Callis This image is one of a series of photographs of dessert pastries--called "Forbidden Pleasures"--occasionally displayed together to invite comparison of shapes, colors, and other visual elements. Callis has said that these soft, sweet, colorful pastries, each lit and staged on a fabric of complimentary texture and design, is about the "idea that desserts and eating desserts carries some of the same psychological baggage as guilt." In other words, eating rich desserts in this health-conscious time can be considered a crime of sorts. In these images, there is also a tongue-in-cheek reference to human sexuality. The seductive ingredients of the pastries and their fabric environments simulate the look of flesh. Although the motivation for this project may have been an impulsive urge to have fun with both the glossy Cibachrome medium and the subject of sweets, Callis was no doubt drawing on the tradition of abundance found in earlier still life painting and the extravagant color of more recent painters representing popular culture.

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