Luncheon #11
Every issue of Luncheon arrives with a healthy selection of front cover options, and this latest issue is no exception.
While some magazines waste multiple covers with repetitive imagery, Luncheon uses them to express the breadth of the magazine’s content. The three different images to ponder this time are: an extravagant colour fashion image by Nadine Ijewere, a simple black and white shot of a vintage coffee pot by Paola Reversi, and a rich food illustration by the great Tomi Ungerer.
Together they describe the rich spectrum of the magazine’s interests. Its large pages are always packed with strong imagery, and this can run from beautifully styled fashion stories to very personal tales attached to one object.
But the Tomi Ungerer cover is our favourite, both for its simple beauty—it’s a classic example from one of the artist’s children’s books—and for the sheer perfection of using such an image on a front cover: it is bold, amusing and colourful, while also highlighting the magazine’s timeless attitude to what is relevant. That cover looks old and new at the same time.
Luncheon is sometimes mistaken for a food magazine—it isn’t. But it is subtitled ‘A Cultural Serving’ and its structure is built around a meal—luncheon—and divided into sections like a menu.
For this issue, each section—or course—is illustrated by one of Ungerer’s artworks from the book ‘Zerelda’s Ogre’. In the book, Zerelda tames a monster by cokking for it: these are some of the meals she prepares.
Here they all are, with a quick note of what to expect in each section.
Aperitifs heralds the magazine’s advertising pages for restaurants, cafés and chefs; selected by longtime Luncheon collaborator Margot Henderson, the pages support businesses affected by the pandemic and hosptitality lockdown.
Hors d’Oeuvres travels to Kosovo for a first person report on youth culture in the capital, Prishtina and meets artist Tin Gao, who shares her work using textiles isnpired by food.
Specials features conversations with artists Nabil Nahas (Beirut), Rita Keegan (Vauxhall, London) and Markus Lupertz (Berlin).
Main dishes sees, of course, the main content of the issue; more art from June Leaf (whose coffee pot is one of the cover options); architect-designer Eileen Gray; a stunning portfolio of photgraphy contrasting work by Earlie Hudnall, Jr. and Rahim Fortune; performance artist Bobby Baker; and a lengthy series on the legacy of designer/artist Judy Blame, with contributions from across the wrold of fashion and art.
Desserts means fashion—a stunning slection of clothes and accessories including the shoot by Nadine Ijewere that offers one of the covers.
And lastly, Digestifs which as always is the record of a lunch, in this case between chef Margot Henderson and designer Giles Deacon.
So that’s Luncheon; a case study in structuring your magazine into pleasing sections, fantastic content from across multiple creative disciplines, and a timeless approach to said content.
Who else might combine Judy Blame, Bobby Baker and Tin Gao in an issue, then use art by Tomi Ungerer to define the sections? Delicious!
Editor-in-chief: Frances von Hofmannsthal
Art directors: Giulia Garbin and Mariana Sameiro