Misstropolis

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Profusion of Flowers: Art in Bloom at the MFA

by Robin Hauck

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It’s hard to know where to begin. It’s all so beautiful, so naturally intricate and luminous and there is so much to see. What does one look at first?

According to Hao Sheng, the Curator of Chinese Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, we must start at the far right and slowly move to the left. That is the proper way to view the meticulous, lifelike brush strokes of “A Profusion of Flowers, All 10,000 Beings Share the Spring,” the mid-18th century Chinese scroll painting from which this year’s Art in Bloom logo was drawn.

But deciding how to dive into Art in Bloom itself is more perplexing. Activities, events and exhibitions are planned for four whole days, from Saturday, April 26 through Tuesday, April 29. What to look at first is entirely up to you.

Art in Bloom is the museum’s “annual festival of fine art and fresh flowers,” presented by the industrious volunteer corps, the MFA Associates. Now in its 32nd year, AIB brings objects from the museum’s collection to life in botanical interpretations created by world renowned floral designers and 63 New England garden clubs. The four day celebration includes Guided Tours, Master Classes and At Home Demonstrations as well as a free Family Day and an Opening Night Gala.

Guests lecturers include NYC’s leading floral designer Michael George whose clients include New York and Hollywood gliteratti – Calvin Client, Yves St. Laurent, Tom Ford, Trump, and Vera Wang, as well as Vogue, Bazaar, Elle, GQ and Ian Schrager Hotels. He will be presenting at Remis Auditorium on Sunday, April 27.

Other floral demonstrations and lectures this year by tk concepts (“The Process of Design”) on Monday and Yoka Hosono, Master Instructor of Ikebana from the Sogetsu School of Tokyo (“The Enchantment of Ikebana: The Splendor of Spring”) on Tuesday.

Family Day, entitled “Young at Art,” goes all day on Saturday, April 26. Family day is free for visitors of all ages and features tours, performances, and flower-inspired activities.

Our favorite is Interactive Yoga, an Art in Bloom Special Event especially for kids who want to move and bend and stretch like the flowers did before they were cut. Misstropolis contributor and kids yoga expert Mary Kaye Chryssicas will be teaching kids to become blossoms from 12:30 — 1:30 pm that Saturday, April 26.

But if I had to choose, what I would look at first is where I began, the astonishing “Profusion of Flowers” on view in the 2nd floor Japanese Gallery as part of “The Brilliance of Bird-and -Flower Painting: Gem of Asian Art” until June 22. Curator Hao Sheng explains that this is a rare opportunity to examine the ancient scroll. Because of its age and value, it is only exhibited for nine months at a time and then put away for at least five years. The last time it was displayed was in Nagoya Japan at the Nagoya MFA.

Created by the most famous painter of Qing Dynasty, Qian Weicheng, “Profusion of Flowers” was created over many years for the sole enjoyment of the Emperor. Hand scrolls were made to be viewed privately and in parts, rather than opened as it is on display in the gallery. The long succession of flowers when viewed from right to left, tells the story of natures gifts in the garden. The early spring flowers make way for later spring and then summer blooms. Hao Sheng notes that the Emperor who hired Qian Weicheng to create the painting for him had a famous garden. But at the time, no one was allowed to see it.

Viewing the scroll at the MFA is like finding an ancient jewel deep in a cave. There is something transporting about seeing a treasure meant only for a King. There is an exhuberence but it is contained, and that’s what makes the peony from the scroll the perfect symbol of Art in Bloom. The painter captured the essence of the natural world and gifted it to the Emperor just as the MFA Associates gift the experience of Art in Bloom to museum guests.

Radical English thinker J.G. Bennett wrote “we labor under the misapprehension that we have to think up what we have to do. The truth is that this is not our responsibility, because the pattern of things is far greater than we can imagine… the direct perception of our pattern belongs to… the unconditioned side of our nature.” (from The Way to Be Free, J.G. Bennett, 1992).

Art in Bloom always signals spring in Boston. Let that side of your nature out and enjoy!