Who Is Adding Hot Dogs to These Famous Revolutionary War Paintings – And Why?
Boston history just got a whole lot meatier.
In a twist of culinary fate, Chelsea hot dog brand Kayem, maker of Fenway Franks, is partnering with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary by updating Revolutionary-era painting using AI to include famous American subjects grilling hot dogs, double-fisting them, and even shooting them out of a cannon.
There’s the signature artwork of George Washington crossing the Delaware, reworked to include a grillmaster in Colonial garb tending to a sizzling serving of hot dogs, while Gilbert Stuart’s Ben Franklin is shown one bite deep into a dog dressed with a ribbon of mustard.
This is the first time the MFA has collaborated with a food brand, and comes at a time when the institution is facing a $13 million projected deficit, which led to job cuts earlier this year. To see the MFA taking on the playfulness of an influencer is an unexpected turn for an institution born in 1870 from the collection of the Boston Athenaeum’s private library.
On the one hand, the hot dog stunt could be seen as a long-overdue bid to stay relevant. But it may also draw criticism, especially due to the use of AI. Indeed, even Kayem was worried the museum’s leaders would find the collaboration beneath them, said Carlos Anguizola, Kayem’s director of marketing. But Bobby Schrader, manager of marketing and tourism at the MFA, was delighted by the idea.
“It’s another entry point to this period of art,” said Schrader. “I think that is our goal, getting people in and learning and talking about history. And if we can do that through something like hot dogs in a picture, something that’s relatable to people, that’s great.”
As for the role of AI, an MFA spokesperson maintained that the use of the controversial technology is akin to Photoshopping a funny social media post, but declined to comment further. The museum said that it did not receive any money from Kayem. Broadly, many in the art world are concerned about the impact of AI technology on copyrights and artist opportunities. The Midtown Hotel just down Huntington Avenue from the museum was heavily criticized earlier this year for its use of AI art in its lobby.
Once Kayem had the idea to link history and hot dogs, it started taking pitches from creative teams to create the new paintings. The Boston advertising agency Colossus sealed the deal with an image it called “Benny Franks,” resembling an 18th-century portrait of Ben Franklin by Gilbert Stuart, but adding a hot dog with mustard and relish to Franklin’s hand. Kayem connected with MFA curators to select a few more paintings, including John Trumbull’s “Declaration of Independence” and Emanuel Leutze’s “Washington Crossing the Delaware,” then Colossus used AI to insert the hot dogs into the artworks.
“There really isn’t a more American food than hot dogs,” said Anguizola. “New Englanders are fiercely proud of the role that the region played in the independence movement, so we really wanted to zero in on that tri-corner-hat era of American history and find a way to insert hot dogs into that.”
The MFA will hold a free open house on June 19 and 20, to coincide with the reopening of its 18th-century Art of the Americas galleries. Visitors will be able to see some of the original paintings in the galleries before the hot dog edits land later that week.
Kayem also hopes to have a special hot dog available in the museum’s cafeteria. The company will also sell a limited-edition Cannon Fire Hot Dog in New England.
But viewers won’t have to wait to see the rearranged art. Beginning Thursday, the paintings will take a tour of Boston, with a pop-up exhibit at Faneuil Hall Marketplace on June 4, then showing at Omni Boston Hotel at the Seaport June 15 to 21; Cisco Brewers in the Seaport June 22 to 24; Fenway Park on June 25 to 26 and again at the MFA from June 24 to July 24.
Though hot dogs were likely not eaten during the Revolution, Anguizola said the project inspired his team to dig into hot dog history. Polish immigrants Helena and Kazimierz Monkiewicz established Kayem in 1909 in Chelsea; the business is still owned by the Monkiewicz family. A century later, in 2009, Kayem became the official hot dog of the Red Sox.
Anguizola was surprised to learn the 1775 Battle of Chelsea Creek, a crushing defeat of the British and a turning point in the Revolutionary War, occurred just a few miles from where the Kayem factory now sits. At that time, the Boston militia would likely have been chowing down on the Fenway Frank’s predecessor, the humble sausage.
In several of the paintings, viewers can spot an apocryphal figure doling out hot dogs in the background as Washington crosses the Delaware or as the Founding Fathers sign the Declaration of Independence.
“That’s a character we’ve lovingly termed Uncle Frank,” said Anguizola, “who we’ve described as Uncle Sam’s long-lost brother, and sort of the patron saint of hot dogs.”
