Here is the third painting-inspired cake I’ve made for one particular art enthusiast. So, we started a few years ago with Keith Haring, a neo-expressionist. His work is joyous and colourful and begs to leap off the page and onto the three dimensions of cake.
Makes you want to get up and dance right now, doesn’t it?
The next year we tackled Piet Mondrian. His style is more sophisticated, subdued. Mondrian is known for his clean lines, his choice of primary colours and his devotion to the two primary directions (horizontal and vertical). While this painting looks relatively easy to recreate, its sharp lines and angles proved to be somewhat of a challenge.
Get ready for this year’s choice – Henri Matisse. Matisse was one of the leaders of the Fauvist movement, in which artists emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism (Wikipedia). However, the painting I was assigned does not fall into that category because it’s abstract. Matisse named it Wine Press and painted it in 1951, just three years before his death.
I don’t like making rectangular cakes. In fact, I shudder when a customer utters the words “sheet cake.” I just happen to think that, for the most part, round or square or even hexagonal cakes are much more aesthetic. I suppose I understand the appeal of a sprawling flatter sheet cake. It’s easier to cut. But my job ends when I hand the cake over. I can’t concern myself with practical issues like that.
Which is to say that I balked at copying this painting in a completely literal way. What works on canvas does not necessarily translate well to confectionary. The painting is dramatic and bold. But I felt that if the entire cake, including the sides, was an accurate recreation of this very busy piece, it would look more like a large mass of colour rather than anything coherent. I thought the riot of colour on top balanced well with the more subdued sides. Hence the final product.
No promises, but next year I might be brave enough to tackle Jackson Pollock.
