Signed and dated l.r.: R.Ponsonby Staples/Nov 3 1911        

Watercolour and gouache

 

Nicolas Soyer (1864-1935) was one of the great celebrity chefs of his day. Son of Alexis Soyer, who had been chef as the Reform Club in the mid nineteenth century, Nicholas was himself at one time both travelling chef to Edward VII and in charge of the kitchens at another St James?s club, Brooks?s. In 1911 Soyer caused a sensation, publishing The Art of Paper Bag Cookery, in a sense the earliest form of ready meal or ?boil-in-the-bag? cooking. To publicise the book, Soyer travelled across both Britain and the United States that year, demonstrating the techniques from the book to large, if somewhat bemused, gatherings. Staples?s wonderful watercolour depicts one such event with his typically astute sense of pictorial observation and shows Soyer demonstrating his techniques to his large audience with a suitable degree of pomposity.

 

 

The present work is to be shown in Three Centuries of British Art at the Shepherd and Derom Galleries, New York in late September and October 2011. For more information also contact the gallery:

Shepherd and Derom Galleries, 58 East 79th Street, New York,

NY 10075

Tel: 212-861-4050 - Fax: 212-772-1314

http://www.shepherdgallery.com

 

A fully illustrated catalogue will also be available from early September.