Human Flower Project
‘Art in Bloom’—Boston Populism
What can flowers do for Cezanne or ancient Greek funerary art? See for yourself.
A docent tours visitors through a gallery of Roman
sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston during
‘Art in Bloom,’ 2002
Photo: Sharon
Thirty years ago, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts tried something fresh: inviting 18 floral designers each to fashion one arrangement to complement a work of art in the collection. ”Art in Bloom” 2006 will include 70 flower designs and will draw some 20,000 visitors to the MFA through April 25. (Monet’s water lilies may endure for centuries but ‘Art in Bloom’ lasts only four days, lest the blossoms start to fade.)
Arrangement of lilies with marble lekythos
(oil flask/funerary monument), Greek, C. 380 B.C.
during ‘Art in Bloom’ at Boston’s MFA, 2002
Photo: Sharon
The mid-1970s, when “Art in Bloom” began, were expansive years in the U.S. arts. The newly formed National Endowment for the Arts was at last throwing public money at something other than the military, and fledgling state arts agencies around the country were nursing young theatre companies, dance troupes and orchestras along. Simultaneously, the grand (and for the U.S.) old institutions like Boston’s MFA were seeking to “be relevant.” “Art in Bloom,” though most definitely the brainchild of affluent Bostonians—the sort who could pay a fortune for flowers—still illustrates an attempt at populism. Putting big bouquets of flowers in a gallery with Roman stone carving and Old Master paintings is a way of domesticating High Art: it says, “You’re invited to the Culture Party.”
These days, seeing busloads of schoolkids seated on the floor of an art museum gallery is no big surprise. There are “Family Days” and a host of other events designed to draw new audiences in to see Etruscan statues and 18th Century landscapes. But it wasn’t always that way. Art museums once were the musty preserves of the superrich. The public wasn’t particularly welcome. All that changed, and quickly, in the mid-1970s, the era when “Art in Bloom” began. An instant success, it’s been copied by many other museums across the U.S. as a springtime custom.
At the MFA, for fun, there are hints of the old exclusivity and grandeur (this is Boston, after all). Check the schedule of events. “Art in Bloom” includes, for example, “Elegant Afternoon Tea.” But you don’t need a personal invitation from Mrs. Winthrop. Just $15, plus the price of museum admission.