tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103288818005519281.post3566975564251273039..comments2024-02-25T23:39:44.980+00:00Comments on IDLE SPECULATIONS: Flowers and Saint Thérèse of LisieuxAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216619732353177072noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103288818005519281.post-61781813943023090492009-09-25T17:16:07.817+00:002009-09-25T17:16:07.817+00:00Father
Many thanks for your very kind comments. I...Father<br /><br />Many thanks for your very kind comments. I hope your are right and that I am wrong in describing people`s interest in flowers. At the moment I am in South London and a lot of the South London Boroughs (with a few notable exceptions) are covered over in concrete, roads, houses and other buildings. There are few plants. Many of the municipal parks are just grass or too dangerous to spend much time in. Green areas do not have economic value. Houses and shops do.<br /><br />You are right to say that there is too much emphasis on instant gratification and consumption. Appreciation of the finer and the more important things in life (including flowers) is definitely way down people`s agendas.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09216619732353177072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103288818005519281.post-77338723507966356672009-09-25T12:38:47.709+00:002009-09-25T12:38:47.709+00:00Many thanks for this beautiful post. The best I ha...Many thanks for this beautiful post. The best I have yet seen around St. Therese at this time. As to the suggestion that interest in flowers is low these days, I would argue the opposite. I am a Yorkshireman and spent some time in Harrogate where people loved to see the crocuses on the Stray or visit the Valley Gardens. <br />I think what has happened is that people - in general - are too interested in entertainment (by this I mean more than TV, since sex itself has become entertainment). There is a lack of refinement and a lack of subtlety and I think this may reflect on some people's indifference to flowers or a lack of appreciation of the variety of flowers.<br />Your post gives us a lot to think about.Fr John Abbertonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10319996483623888898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103288818005519281.post-51157620171342161042009-09-24T22:30:12.377+00:002009-09-24T22:30:12.377+00:00Thank you
Hopefully artistic interest in flowers w...Thank you<br />Hopefully artistic interest in flowers will revive. The question is: Why did the interest in flowers decline ?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09216619732353177072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103288818005519281.post-20235071463860405542009-09-24T21:55:20.522+00:002009-09-24T21:55:20.522+00:00This is a great post. I love thinking about the s...This is a great post. I love thinking about the symbolism of the flower, especially as it appears in Northern Renaissance art. I think my favorite depiction is Campin's <a href="http://teachers.sduhsd.k12.ca.us/ltrupe/art%20history%20web/final/chap17EarlyRenaissance/MerodeAltarpiece.jpg" rel="nofollow">Annunciation altarpiece</a>, in which Mary is depicted near a vase of day lilies. Like the water lilies (that you mentioned), these day lilies also had associations with purity, which emphasized the purity of the Virgin in Campin's work.<br /><br />I think you are right; there is a lost interest and fascination with flowers, especially in recent art. Off the top of my head, I can only think of one 20th century artist that maintained a keen interest in flowers: Georgia O'Keefe.Alberti's Windowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17060586087447314960noreply@blogger.com