Lou Dorfsman's Gastrotypographicalassemblage at The Culinary Institute of America

The Culinary Institute of America

«For the last 25 years one of the world's largest modern typographic artworks has been hidden away in a basement on Long Island. Now on display for the first time in a quarter of a century, "Gastrotypographicalassemblage"­; is a focal point of The Culinary Institute of America's new Marriott Pavilion and Conference Center in Hyde Park, NY. The creation of legendary CBS Art Director and Designer Lou Dorfsman, the work measures more than 33 feet wide and eight feet tall, and consists of more than 1,650 individual letters spelling out culinary terminology and expressions, as well as 65 food-related objects.

»From 1966 to 1989, Gastrotypographicalassemblage was on display in the staff dining room at CBS Network headquarters in the legendary Black Rock building in Manhattan. There it captured the imaginations of both visitors and employees, but in 1989 the work was removed during a renovation. Without a new home, it was saved from the landfill by designer Nick Fasciano and Lou Dorfsman, who stored the mural for more than two decades while he worked to find it a new venue.

»The artwork was introduced to The Culinary Institute of America by a long-standing member of the Board of Trustees, and the college's leadership determined that the CIA would make a perfect new home for the mural containing 255 culinary words and phrases. Following an extensive restoration, this significant piece of American design history is now on display at college's campus in the Hudson Valley of New York.»