The Gas Cooker 1913

Editor: Spencer Gore’s "The Gas Cooker," currently housed at the Tate, depicts a woman at her stove. The textures are so palpable, but it feels… claustrophobic. What can you tell me about this piece? Curator: Consider how Gore presents the labour. The visible brushstrokes, the emphasis on the room’s cramped materiality – red walls, the cooker itself – it shifts our gaze to the means of production within a domestic sphere. Is the work celebrating or critiquing the act of cooking in Edwardian England? Editor: That's interesting, I hadn't considered the labor aspect like that. I was too focused on the interior space itself. Thanks! Curator: Focusing on materiality gives us a fresh perspective, doesn't it?