Flower power : the meaning of flowers in Asian art

Flower power The meaning of flowers in Asian art

Dany Chan

Book - 2017

"In 1967, the phrase "flower power" transformed the commonplace flower into a Buddhist-inspired symbol of peace. In honor of the fiftieth anniversary of San Francisco's Summer of Love, this book showcases the expressive powers of flowers in Asian arts and cultures. Beginning in ancient times, a language of flowers, where certain blooms suggest specific themes, was communicated in art throughout Asia. Here forty artworks, all drawn from the Asian Art Museum's renowned collection, focus on six celebrated flowers--lotus, plum blossom, cherry blossom, chrysanthemum, tulip, and rose--and the messages they convey"--

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Subjects
Asian Art Museum of San Francisco > Exhibitions.
Flowers in art > Exhibitions.
Art, Asian > Themes, motives > Exhibitions.
Flowers > Symbolic aspects > Asia > Exhibitions.
Exhibition catalogs.
Genres
Exhibition catalogs
Published
San Francisco, CA : Asian Art Museum [2017]
Language
English
Corporate Author
Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
Main Author
Dany Chan (author)
Corporate Author
Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (author)
Edition
First edition
Item Description
"Flower Power is organized by the Asian Art Museum. Exhibition dates: June 23-October 1, 2017."
Physical Description
xii, 112 pages : color illustrations ; 26 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN
9780939117796
  • Transcendence: lotus
  • Transience: plum and cherry
  • Reflection: chrysanthemum
  • Sophistication: tulip and rose
  • Provocation: flowers in contemporary art.
Review by Library Journal Review

What does a person think when hearing the term flower power? The Summer of Love and San Francisco may come to mind, but probably not poetry, nor the arts of Japan and Iran. Published to honor the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love in the Asian Art Museum's hometown of San Francisco, this catalog's intent is to build cultural connections and empathy and encourage all to work "together toward a more tolerant and peaceful world." Just as flowers are ephemeral, so, too, is the installation art of Lee -Mingwei-freshly cut flowers in a water channel set into the museum's floor. Visitors are invited to take a flower, then go out of their way to give it to a stranger, a metaphor for art as gift and not commodity. From the transformation of Buddha's enemies into lotus blossoms to Takashi -Murakami's Andy Warhol-esque, neosurrealist smiling daisies, the iconography of flowers has been used to send messages for millennia. VERDICT A quick and engaging read, filled with full-page images worthy of framing, this exhibition catalog will be of interest to students and general readers of symbolism in religion, flowers, and the graphic arts.-Nancy J. -Mactague, -formerly Aurora Univ. Lib., IL © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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