Avoirdupois features many puns. The French term refers to a system of weights; but can also be translated as "to have some peas," which explains the dish containing shelled green peas hanging in the balance. Avoirdupois can suggest being overweight - and Max Weber, advocate of avant-garde art, was among the young artists who dismissed earlier academic works as bloated and out of date. Among the foremost American artists, Weber was an influential force in the development of modernism in the United States. Studying in Paris, France, by 1905 he encountered the revolutionary work of Paul Cezanne, Paul Gauguin, and the Fauves, who emphasized strong color over realistic palettes. He also studied briefly with Henri Matisse and absorbed the lessons of Cubism in the work of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque.