Home Economics Foods and Food Preparation

Home Economics Foods and Food Preparation is a series of cooking class leaflets created by the School District of Philadelphia. The book was used in a Home Economics class in Philadelphia and published in 1942. It contains recipes and instructions for cleaning, caring, and cooking. While the textbook itself is generic and mass produced, this particular copy was owned by a female student, Edith Fineberg and contains notes, recipes, and doodles within the pages and on the covers. The book is full of her personality and becomes a beautiful view into the past. It shows how young girls were taught to be members of society and the expectations placed on them from a young age.

Background

Home Economics

Home economics originated in the early 1900s as part of a movement aimed at preparing young women for new professional jobs by equipping them with basic skills like cooking, cleaning, and home care. The course was created as a form of science. Female students wore lab coats and were taught necessary skills that could help them procure a wide range of jobs in the future. The Federal Bureau of Home Economics was erected around the same time. The government organization helped teach women during the war how to cook with limited food supplies, had an advice radio show, published recipes, and taught about food and nutrition. There was a focus in American culture that the home could contribute to social change. Managing a properly fed and cared for nuclear family was a way in which young women could have a powerful effect on the future generation. Though a major shift happened in the 1950s that highlighted the growing conformist and repressive culture of the times. The home economics field became a prime example for feminists in the 1960s of sexist, inhibitory culture and as a result, the field is no longer studied or taught.

Structure

Cover

Like other copies, the cover of the book is plain white, with no title or illustrations, and paperback, made with some sort of heavier acid-free paper. It is also protected by a plastic cover, though this is most likely a later addition from Kislak to preserve the book. Despite the relative fragility of the paper cover, it remains in good shape for a 54-year-old book, with little wear and only some slight yellowing around the edges. The only exterior text lies on the spine—the last names of contributing artists and publishers are listed alphabetically on the top and bottom respectively.

Binding

The book is adhesive bound, with evidence of discoloration from the glue on inner edges of the cover flap and clumping on the spine. Since there is no pastedown, closer inspection shows notches in the spine where hot glue would have penetrated the spine of the book and face-trimming on the three sides of the paper, suggesting the book to have been bound through "perfect binding" (See: Bookbinding, Thermally activated binding), a popular method for paperbacks during this time. The sectioned sides of the book may also point to traditional gatherings of 8 leaves (octavos); however, the paper is letter size (8.5 inches by 11 inches) as opposed to the typically smaller octavos, and the gatherings are hard to discern towards the middle and end.

Paper and Print Quality

The interior paper is thin and slightly transparent, with ink from the recto visible on the verso. The ink-bleeding may have led Siegelaub to print all content on the recto, though the choice could have also been a creative one, mimicking the single-sided photocopying of the Xerox machine. Furthermore, though Siegelaub had intended to reproduce the book with the Xerox machine, photocopying proved financially unfeasible. All copies in the first edition were thus printed by offset lithography.

Overall, the plain exterior, lack of title, inexpensive cover and binding, and fragile paper suggest a lack of importance in the book as an object; rather, this codex form only serves as a platform to widely disseminate its interior ideas.

Chef Fritz Blank

The textbook was donated to the Penn Library in 2008 by Chef Fritz Blank, in the largest donation of cookbooks the library has received. Chef Fritz owned a famous restaurant in Philadelphia called Deux Cheminees, one of the first high-end restaurants in Philadelphia. It was opened in 1979 and it brought classic French style cooking to the growing Philadelphia restaurant scene. The restaurant was located in two conjoined townhouses decorated to feel cozy and homey. On display in the restaurant was Chef Fritz’s cookbook collection. Chef Fritz was very interested in teaching children. He would go to Philadelphia schools and run cooking classes. One of the many cookbooks in his collection was Home Economics Foods and Food Preparation. Though the book appears to be very generic, as there are thousands of copies of this specific textbook. This one is special.

Content

Title page

The Xerox Book lacks any introductory text to the following works besides a title page (p3). This title page resembles one of a generic codex, listing the artists in alphabetical order in the center, providing the publishing date, location, and publishers in a smaller font near the bottom, and stating the copy as one of 1000 in the first edition. The scant information emphasizes the importance of its content, and further, the following pages as stand-alone works. This page, in resembling any cheap paperback, also adds an interesting dimension to the work as a whole: one on hand, it establishes the ability of the physical codex to be an exhibition, to be the art; on the other hand, the physical object itself is widely available, an interchangeable copy, and only a vessel for a greater idea.

Artwork

All of the pages utilize the Xerox machine as a means of creating art, and as such, each work, totaling 25 pages, is bound within the standard 8.5 by 11 format and presented in black and white. They also all fall under Conceptual Art, emphasizing the idea over the physical, and provoke various questions on topics including the nature of the book, the Xerox machine, and the relationship between the art, the artist, the producer, and the audience.

• Carl Andre

Carl Andre (born 1935) is the first artist to show up in the alphabetically-organized Xerox Book. An American Minimalist sculptor and poet, he is most known for his use of materials such as bricks or stone tiles to create simple geometric sculptures. This theme is evident in his 25 pages, which involves a progression of squares, starting from one square on the first page, to a total of 25 on the 25th page. Jack Wendler remembers that Andre had been in Rome during the time of the book's production and had asked him and Siegelaub to create the work for him. Following Andre's directions, they started from the top left and dropped one-by-one inch cubes on the Xerox machine to produce the black outlines as seen in the final work. The fact that Siegelaub and Wendler created the material piece and Andre only provided the idea foregrounds the de-materialization of art, as the artist, a creator of art, is cited here as Andre. Second, like all following works, the use of an everyday office machine as a mode emphasizes its de-aestheticization. On the other hand, this work also contains the self-reflexivity typical of artist's books. During a later interview when asked why the squares began in the top left corner, Wendler said it just occurred to him that it was "like writing." This subconscious decision demonstrates that the immaterial idea of art is still bound by its material medium, in this case, established conventions of the codex format. Further, the transformation of a three-dimensional object (the cube) into a two-dimensional figure on the page points to the limited transference of information through the codex format, whereas the progressive accumulation of squares as the audience flips through the pages points to the codex's temporal affordances. Each page consists of a phrase, translated into English, German, and French, that offers varying explanations of the dots or lines on the page.

• Robert Barry

Robert Barry (born 1936) is a New York based artist whose installations, non-material works, and performances highlight the multi-faceted nature of space in art and the power of language to change the perception of said space. Barry's 25 pages consist of repeating grids of dots, with the bottom of the final page also including the words "ONE MILLION DOTS." Again, this piece speaks to the temporal and linear nature experience of a codex. As the viewer flips through each page, he or she has a sense that there are many dots; however, only on the last page, the viewer understands that one, the dots on each page are meant to be viewed in relation to each other (accumulated), and two, there are a finite, specific number of dots. Through the strategic placement of language, Barry is manipulate the perception of past sensory experiences.

• Douglas Huebler

Douglas Hubler (1924-1997) began his career as a painter before transitioning to sculptures, photographs, and multi-media work that often incorporated text. He is considered one of the founders of Conceptual Art, and, in his artist's statement for a show at Seth Siegelaub's gallery a year after the publication of the Xerox Book, famously declared, "The world is full of objects, more or less interesting; I do not wish to add any more." Out of all the Xerox Book artists, Huebler's work may be considered the most de-materialized, and indeed, his 25 pages heavily engages the audience's rational intellect. The formulaic language is reminiscent of a mathematical text, and highlights the de-aestheticization and informational transmission of Conceptual Art The format further enables this latter goal, as the codex had mostly been relegated solely as a tool for the communication of ideas in the contemporary consciousness. However, this codex's inherent nature as the physical manifestation of fine art, particularly those within the first edition, places value back on the codex as an object, raising the question of whether visual art can ever evade materialization.

• Joseph Kosuth

Joseph Kosuth (born 1945) is another pioneer of the Conceptual Art movement. In 1969, he published a seminal essay titled, "Art After Philosophy," which explores the relationship between words, ideas, and visual images. His belief in language-based art is evident in his 25 pages, that include a series of sentences describing a non-existent image of the project's creation process, such as "Photograph of ink and toner used." Similar to Huebler, Kosuth's "art" manifests in the audience's imagination in typical Conceptual Art fashion and again references the notion of the book as an idea. Self-reflexivity is also prominent in this as it draws attention and "aesthetifies" the creation process of the material object at hand. According to Wendler, Kosuth had initially hoped to physically pass elements in the creation process (such as ink and toner) through the Xerox machine, but had been asked to reconsider due to its infeasibility. Perhaps this points to limits in the documentary capabilities of the codex format and, more specifically, the photocopy technology; at the same time, the final product also highlights the power of printed words to generate ideas that can overcome such a barrier.

• Sol LeWitt

Sol LeWitt (1928 - 2007] was a Conceptual and Minimalist artist, most famous for his large-scale wall drawings. He began his career as a graphic designer, an experience that influenced his reliance on lines and simple shapes in later works.LeWitt emphasized the conception of his works over the material through a refined artistic process: first, he decided on a system of elements; then, he mapped out various permutations through a combination of the elements; last, he would entrust this "blueprint" to others for production. LeWitt's work in the Xerox Book reflects his process, with each of the first 24 pages depicting some rotation of squares filled with horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines, and the last 25 page revealing the overall schematic. Interestingly, LeWitt's work is the only one to reference an outside piece of art, as they served as the "blueprint" for his first wall drawings in 1969. Though LeWitt may seem to have violated Siegelaub's stipulation that works in the "Xerox Book" must be the art, the notion in Conceptual Art that the idea takes precedence over its physical manifestation allows LeWitt's "blueprint" to take greater importance. The codex format, with its element of "copies," underscores the idea behind the work and its two physical iterations as the same.

• Robert Morris

Robert Morris(1931 - 2018) was an American artist and art critic whose work touched upon several art movement during his lifetime, from Minimalist to Conceptual Art. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, bracketing the publication of the Xerox Book, Morris experimented with unorthodox material, such as dirt or masses of thread, to create "Anti-form" pieces that lacked rigid structure. His 25 pages also demonstrate a similar idea, featuring an imperfect copy of the photograph of Earth as taken from space. Though the audience recognizes the picture is of Earth, imperfections from the Xerox machine are evident: the circular planet and the clouds lacks a definitive outline; there are glitches and toner dust marks surrounding the image; each of the 25 pages vary in their quality. Morris's work most plainly comments on the unreliability of the Xerox machine and perhaps even physical prints as a whole. However again, his use of the technology to create fine art adds complexity to any potential critique.

• Lawrence Weiner

Lawrence Weiner (1942 - 2021), the final artist in the Xerox Book, was another key figure in the Conceptual Art Movement. He is famous for his "Declaration of Intent," formulated in 1968:

1.The artist may construct the piece.

2. The piece may be fabricated.

3. The piece need not be built.

Each being equal and consistent with the intent of the artist the decision as to condition rests with the receiver upon the occasion of receivership.

This last line emphasizes his belief in audience engagement with the work, which is also evident in his contributions to the Xerox Book. Each page consists of a xeroxed graph-paper with the following text:

A RECTANGULAR REMOVAL FROM A XEROXED GRAPH SHEET IN PROPORTION TO THE OVERALL DIMENSIONS OF THE SHEET

Wendler recalls that Weiner had intended these words as instructions for the audience to alter something about the work (remove it) in order to manifest the intended art. These instructions to destroy highlights the another dimension of the paperback codex format at this time, its fungibility. Furthermore, the instructions de-emphasize its value as an object, in accordance with Siegelaub's intentions. However, the first-edition copy at the Kislak Center (and most likely all other copies) retains its pages, which again points to the limitations of art to evade all commodification.