The Flower as Image

Yes, they're beautiful, but this catalogue for the show The Flower as Image asks a thornier question at its core: Why has the flower motif fascinated all sorts of artists through the ages, from Van Gogh to Mapplethorpe? The answer is twofold. For one, it's an easily accessible motif that simply provides a pretext for the artist to create a work. In addition, the flower brings with it a rich history as a symbol of sensuality, beauty, transience, love, sexuality, innocence, and Paradise. In fact, the flower is such a familiar symbol that an artist, in tackling the subject, is driven back to the very the question of what it means to create a work of art. Fifty artists are featured in this impressive collection, including Monet, Gauguin, Matisse, O'Keeffe, Picasso, Emil Nolde, Sigmar Polke, Andy Warhol, Pipilotti Rist, and Nobuyoshi Araki.