Confronting Bodies: Some Chicago Athenaeum Museum visitors
Date of Action: 2000-2002
Specific Location: Chicago, Illinois USA
Description of Artwork: Dick Detzner’s “The Last Pancake Breakfast” (pictured above) is a painting in which advertising icons ranging from Tony the Tiger to Aunt Jemima replace the figures in Leonardo da Vinci’s masterwork, “Last Supper”. The controversial painting features a bottle of Mrs. Butterworth’s pancake syrup as Jesus at the center of the table flanked by Kellogg Rice Crispe’s “Snap, Crackle and Pop,” “Cap’n Crunch”, “Trix the Rabit”, the Fruit Loop’s “Toucan Sam”, the colonial Quaker Oatmeal man and the other symbols as the Apostles. Dick Detzner writes, "I conceived the idea for "The Last Pancake Breakfast" as a continuation of a series I had been working on for years, called "Corporate Sacrilege".
Description of Incident: “The Last Pancake Breakfast” was put on display at the Chicago Athenaeum Museum in 2001. As a modern day re-working/re-thinking of Leonardo da Vinci’s famed religious painting “Last Supper”, Detzner’s piece has come under criticism. The Chicago-area art museum has reported that since it went on display in February 2001 they have received more than 100 calls protesting the piece.
Results of Incident: The Chicago Athenaeum museum was protested by many who found Detzner's depiction of the "Last Supper" to be religiously offensive.
Source: CNN: http://www.wittenburgdoor.com/archives/CNN_021119.html
Submitted By: National Coalition Against Censorship