Art is Flowering: Floral Motifs in Jewellery and Contemporary Art - Hardcover

Blooms and blossoms are a widespread and frequently recurrent motif in the annals of art and indissolubly intertwined with human history. Floral symbolism and its religious significance abound in all period styles. In jewellery, the periods covered range from the gold floral jewellery of ancient Greece through Baroque flower brooches sumptuously set with precious stones and, in art, from the extravagant flower motifs of Jugendstil/Art Nouveau to current trends in contemporary art jewellery."Art is Flowering" fosters an interdisciplinary dialogue - starting with jewellery - to open up new perspectives for readers and viewers alike on the floral theme: art jewellery is confronted with top quality, cutting-edge works by leading contemporary artists from the fields of object, installation, drawing, photography and video. With the Mandrake and other mystical plants as examples, 'Wayside Flowers' are tracked down in their cultural and historical context and the links between floral magnificence and Christian festival culture are revealed. An interview with the award-winning florist Karin Engel reports on past and present trends in her field. And in the chapter on 'Flowers in Literature', the celebrated novelist Beate Rygiert entices with exquisite samples of floral sensuousness in literature.