Mugaritz: The cruelty of paper

[Pontormo]

The intriguing title of this thread caught my eye. I must defer to all of you for your expertise on the central focus of this discussion. However, the following addresses comments above:

Marcel Duchamp is one of the most important figures among all known Western artists of the twentieth century and a major influence not only on his peers, but on generations of artists, critics, scholars and the sort. Most influential was the notion of the ready-made, a "found" mass-produced everyday object that was transformed into a work of art by being presented in a new context and called a work of art by the artist. For example, a porcelain urinal turned upside down, entitled "Fountain" and placed in an art gallery instead of a restroom, signed and dated, is a work of art simply because the artist says so. Admire its sheen, pure, simple lines...

The idea is that it is the mind that makes the work of art, not the hand. Thus, Duchamp may be seen as the culmination of a process that can be traced back to the late medieval and Renaissance periods, when Leonardo, most notably, argued that artists were intellectuals and not mere craftsmen or manual laborers.

There was not one art critic, but numbers, who represented the opinions of the general public who scoffed at his work and called him a hack, most notably at the revolutionary Armory Show in New York (1913). This was not a bad thing. Artists intentionally tried to shock Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

To Be Modern meant to bid the past "Adieu" and "Good Riddance." It would be like Spanish cuisine made purely of foam and a sequence of countless small plates without the one big pan of paella. Clearly, at the beginning of the following century, our response to tradition has changed both in the culinary world and in art.

As we all learn on eGullet, we all have different opinions and different tastes. Knowledge can inform both.

And to bring this back on topic to food if not the various merits of the restaurants under discussion, I will add that Duchamp entered the professional kitchen to be inspired to create one of earliest ready-mades out of a bottle rack whose form he found particularly striking. He is also known for reading sexual content into an early mechanical chocolate grinder.

Edited January 5, 2006 by Pontormo (log)

[vserna]

This is all very illuminating, but doesn't take us very far in this discourse. Jesús doesn't like Marcel Duchamp, and I do. So? Obviously there are differences of taste and there will always be. There were also many influential critics who backed Duchamp from day one - nothing new under the sun.

Just two notes that are more pertinent to this thread:

1. Tastes are one thing, facts another. Let's not twist facts, please.

2. Spanish food critics - not just Mr. García Santos, whose influence is only felt in the Basque Country - have played a decisive role in fostering the modernization of cuisine in this country. (But - again in deference to factual precision - I wouldn't be as enthusiastic as anyavon when he or she says: "Nowhere else in the world have critics been more influential in creating a movement." A mere two names suffice to refute that assertion: Henri Gault and Christian Millau.)

[anyavon]

The assertion that RSG's influence is only felt in the Basque Country isn't

entirly accurate though. As I mentioned in my previous post, he is a big hero these days to the Italian avant-garde--for instance. Identita Golosa started organizing their own good congress in Milan, a direct response to RSG's Lo Mejor. Last year he opened that congress and got a standing ovation, even though he spoke in Spanish without translation and nobody understood a word (which was probably for the better).

Yes, Gault Millaut, of course! But I was thinking of more recent times. While the situation is slowly changing, in many ways thanks to Spain, institutional restaurant critics tend to be hostile to experimental cuisine.

RSG, Capel are the happy exceptions.

[vserna]

Many thanks, anyavon. My name is Victor de la Serna. I'm the restaurant critic for El Mundo in Madrid, and the longest serving restaurant critic in Spain's national news media. So I'm slightly well placed to aver that you are entirely wrong ("RSG, Capel are the happy exceptions"). You haven't heard of Ignacio Medina, Caius Apicius, Xavier Agulló, Juan Manuel Bellver, Carmen Casas, have you?

I'm very happy García Santos gets standing ovations in Italy. But he isn't published in Italy, and Italian customers make up a tiny proportion of the public of Spanish restaurants. So his influence outside the Basque Country (meaning: in the rest of Spain, of course) remains limited.

[anyavon]

Sorry Victor, I didn't mean to slight your contribution or those of the others you mention some of whom are good friends. What I've merely been trying to say is that the Spanish avant-garde movement has enjoyed a rare and extraordinary critical support, which has allowed it flourish in a way it might not have done elswhere. It has also led to acceptance of experminetal cuisine in other parts of the world. Italians might not make an important customer base in Spain but both Italian food critics and public have been very resistant to innovative cooking. If this is changing, that's in no small way thanks to Spain. (Obviously, Ferran is the main protagnist in all of this.) Anyway, I'm not a fan of RSG and won't say another word in his defense...

[vserna]

It's not a matter of defending RGS or not, it's a matter of giving facts accurately, anyavon. The well-documented (and still ongoing) resistance to culinary innovation in Italy has not been the rule in Europe, but rather the exception. French, German, Scandinavian and British critics have largely backed innovation (with the inevitable exceptions) ever since Henri Gault came up with the expression, 'nouvelle cuisine' more than 35 years ago. And that's fact, not hypothesis.

So using the Italian example really is pointless in the context of a thread on the influence of Spanish food writers in Spain. Nor does García Santos' pop icon status among a very qualified minority of people in Italy mean anything in the context of his influence in Spain. It's not a matter of self-esteem or braggadoccio if I tell you that only the two largest national newspapers in Spain, El País and El Mundo, exert nationwide influence in the restaurant world. It's only logical: we're the only two that are widely read nationally. RGS writes for regional media only.

Edited January 7, 2006 by vserna (log)

[JesusBarquin]

The intriguing title of this thread caught my eye.  I must defer to all of you for your expertise on the central focus of this discussion.  However, the following addresses comments above:

Marcel Duchamp is one of the most important figures among all known Western artists of the twentieth century and a major influence not only on his peers, but on generations of artists, critics, scholars and the sort.  Most influential was the notion of the ready-made, a "found" mass-produced everyday object that was transformed into a work of art by being presented in a new context and called a work of art by the artist.  For example, a porcelain urinal turned upside down, entitled "Fountain" and placed in an art gallery instead of a restroom, signed and dated, is a work of art simply because the artist says so.  Admire its sheen, pure, simple lines...

The idea is that it is the mind that makes the work of art, not the hand.  Thus, Duchamp may be seen as the culmination of a process that can be traced back to the late medieval and Renaissance periods, when Leonardo, most notably, argued that artists were intellectuals and not mere craftsmen or manual laborers.

There was not one art critic, but numbers, who represented the opinions of the general public who scoffed at his work and called him a hack, most notably at the revolutionary Armory Show in New York (1913).  This was not a bad thing.  Artists intentionally tried to shock Mr. & Mrs. Smith. 

To Be Modern meant to bid the past "Adieu" and "Good Riddance."  It would be like Spanish cuisine made purely of foam and a sequence of countless small plates without the one big pan of paella.  Clearly, at the beginning of the following century, our response to tradition has changed both in the culinary world and in art.

As we all learn on eGullet, we all have different opinions and different tastes.  Knowledge can inform both.

And to bring this back on topic to food if not the various merits of the restaurants under discussion, I will add that Duchamp entered the professional kitchen to be inspired to create one of earliest ready-mades out of a bottle rack whose form he found particularly striking.  He is also known for reading sexual content into an early mechanical chocolate grinder.

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Thanks for the lesson, Pontormo, but I already knew all of it. FWIW and in spite of any other art critic's statement, I still think that Duchamp's production as a supposed artist is nearer to bullshit than to greatness. Imagine what I should say of his contribution to the advance of professional kitchen... Just my opinion.

May I add that we are in the beginning of 21st century? To my mind, Duchamp seems way too less 'modern' than Piero, Velázquez or Goya... But I would not say the same of other XXth century artists like Julian Schnabel, Miguel Barceló, Luis Gordillo or José Mª Báez, among dozens and dozens, with the Historic figure of Pablo Ruiz Picasso leading all of them.

Sorry for getting out of the theme... Put the blame on Luiz Horta!

[JesusBarquin]

By the way, and just to state a link between the table and my previous post: an Antonio Picasso was an outstanding builder of Bodegas in the Barrio Alto of Sanlúcar in the second half of 19th Century... One of them, close to the absolute Cathedral of Sherry Wines: La Arboledilla, currently owned by Barbadillo. A overwhelming place to which a pilgrimage should be made at least once in a lifetime by any food geek...

[anyavon]

Victor, if you define critical influence in terms of the number of paying guests it brings to a restaurant, yes, Rafa's is marginal (though Pais Vasco isn't exactly a culinary wasteland) However, if one looks at his role in rallying young Spanish chefs together into a movement, pushing them to experiment, organizing a venue where they can exchange ideas--plus the impact of all of this internationally--then a different picture emerges. And hey, who else in Europe publishes a guide that so relentlessly--and often absurdly--privileges innovation?

As for European press, Gault, Millau, nouvelle cuisine, yes this was thirty five years ago. I write about restaurants around the world for a living, maintain regular contact with critics in many countries, and read international food press on a weekly basis. And I stand by my assertion that the systematic critical support that experimental cuisine has enjoyed in Spain is unique. If I had time, I could go down the list, country by country, city by city, paper by paper...But I'm off to Paris today--with a brief stop in Madrid--to work with Francois Simon of Le Figaro on a piece. He certainly doesn't seem believe that there is much critical support for innovation in France.

By your definition, Michelin is certainly an "influential" publication in Europe. Would you seriously characterize their taste as "progressive"?

[pedro]

Victor, if you define critical influence in terms of the number of paying guests it brings to a restaurant, yes, Rafa's is marginal (though Pais Vasco isn't exactly a culinary wasteland) However, if one looks at his role in rallying young Spanish chefs together into a movement, pushing them to experiment, organizing a venue where they can exchange ideas--plus the impact of all of this internationally--then a different picture emerges. And hey, who else in Europe publishes a guide that so relentlessly--and often absurdly--privileges innovation?

←

I tend to agree with you in this regard, anyavon. I'd say that RGS's influence has much more weight among chefs than among patrons, the Basque Country being an exception to that. His ability to arrange a congress which has achieved an important reputation internationally can't also be disminished, no matter how much or less we like other aspects of his role as critic.

[vserna]

Indeed, RGS has mesmerized and subjugated a few Basque chefs, that's true. He likes peas that are peeled twice, not just once - so they peel peas twice. This is not negligible. But a critic's influence on the taste of the public is more important that the critic's influence on the taste of the cook, IMHO. And that's where he's lacking and some other people have been more important than him.