Milk and Eggs: The American Revival of Tempera Painting, 1930-1950

Tempera was a primary medium for artistic expression in Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries. Milk and Eggs examines the American re-emergence of tempera painting in the mid-20th century. It experienced a renaissance in the work of a large number of mostly unconnected American artists, including Thomas Hart Benton, Paul Cadmus, Jacob Lawrence, and Andrew Wyeth among others.

Milk and Eggs focuses on four centers where tempera painting was revived--Yale University School of Art, the Art Students League of New York, the studio of N. C. Wyeth in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and the Kansas City Art Institute--and the historical, cultural, and philosophical factors that drove the revival, including the Great Depression and the Works Progress Administration. It also examines the medium in great detail, its materials and preparation, and arrives at a definition of tempera. Moreover, the results of extensive analysis of certain works of art is included.