A chaotic but happy kitchen scene: A light-skinned woman in a pink dress at left bends to take a turkey out of the oven, while another at right forms a pie near a small girl playing with a kitten. Behind them, a woman selects dishware as yet another carries a basket of ingredients. A fifth woman in the back puts on a fancy hat and coat near a pair of babies reaching out from their twin high chair.

Thanksgiving

c. 1935

Doris Lee (American, 1905–1983)

United States

Painted in a deliberately cartoon-like manner, this bustling scene of women preparing a Thanksgiving feast debuted in the midst of the Great Depression, a time when the themes of a national holiday, rural customs, and family life appealed to struggling Americans. It became the object of national headlines, however, when it was first exhibited at the Art Institute in 1935 and won the prestigious Logan Purchase Prize. Josephine Logan, the donor of the prize, condemned the work’s broad, exaggerated style as too modern, and founded the conservative “Sanity in Art” movement in response. This controversy only brought Illinois-born artist Doris Lee fame, and Thanksgiving has been recognized as one of the most popular views of this American ritual since that time.

Oil on canvas

Women artists

Arts of the Americas