Images of celebrities eating are the most obvious reminder that they’re just like us. A paparazzi shot of Kirsten Dunst shoving a salad leaf into her mouth as Jake Gylenhall watches — to cite one example — is both painful to look at and entirely relatable, even six years later.
This week, Gucci and Dashwood Books will publish an entire book of photos featuring famous artists eating. They come as part of a set highlighting the life’s work of photographer Paige Powell, who captured artists like Andy Warhol eating, drinking, working, and playing with animals in New York City throughout the ’70s and ’80s.
When Powell first moved from Portland to New York City, she landed at Interview magazine, where she worked as advertising associate and later as associate publisher. It was there that Powell became close with Warhol, as well as up-and-comers in the New York art scene like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Francesco and Alba Clemente, Tama Janowitz, and Stephen Sprouse. She’s even said to have dated Basquiat.
If you don’t know Powell’s name, that’s because she’s been reluctant to showcase her photos in the past, and has yet to do a large exhibit. Gucci wants to help her bring her archive to life, though, with the set of three to four books, as well as a monthlong exhibition at its Gucci Wooster store.
See a preview of “Artists Eating” from the book set, below.
