Cornflakes
Cornflakes
Artist
Jamie Wyeth
(born 1946)
Date1985
MediumWatercolor and varnish on paper
Dimensions28 × 22 in. (71.1 × 55.9 cm)
Framed: 39 3/8 × 33 3/8 × 2 1/4 in.
Framed: 39 3/8 × 33 3/8 × 2 1/4 in.
ClassificationsWatercolor
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2007.221
Signedl.l., in dark brown paint: J. WYETH
Accession number
2007.221
On View
Not on viewLabel TextThe colorful rooster appearing on grocery store shelves is instantly associated with the Cornflakes brand. In this painting, Jamie Wyeth plays with our ability to recognize this imagery by humorously depicting an actual rooster standing in front of a bag of Cornflakes. But Wyeth is not only painting a visual pun. Unlike the simplified rooster used to sell breakfast cereal, Wyeth’s bird is meticulously painted. It is positioned in profile as the primary focus of the composition and seen at eye level, not from above or below as birds are often depicted. In effect, Wyeth paints the rooster as if it were a human by using the conventions of portraiture. This gives the bird a more elevated status than that of a common barnyard animal.
