Graphic Flower: Ray Flowers and Roses in American Art and Culture

America’s favourite flora are the homey ray flowers, a tribe featuring daisies, sunflowers, chrysanthemums, dahlias, coneflowers, and black-eyed-Susans, combined with the elegant, multifaceted rose. Children pick ray flowers for their prepubescent crush or for their mother; when they get older, they graduate to the rose, a more sophisticated choice. Both high culture and pop culture embrace floral imagery; think of Annie Liebovitz’s famous nude photograph of Bette Midler blanketed in long-stemmed American Beauties on the cover of Rolling Stone, or zombies featured in a Wars of the Roses comic book. Thousands of postcards and greeting cards are covered in a sea of roses and ray flowers. Meet Daisy Mae, see Daisy the dog, and view the presidential Rose Garden, as well as influential American and European works of art. These images are combined with the history and romance of our favourite flowers. A nonallergenic floral extravaganza! AUTHORS: Michael B. Emery is the site administrator of Cornwall Iron Furnace. Irwin Richman works with the Landis Valley Associates, a private group dedicated to forwarding the aims of the Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum. They have each authored many books about art, culture, and tradition. SELLING POINTS: . A celebration of America’s favourite floral icons, the homey ray flower and the rose. . A visual feast of daisies, sunflowers, chrysanthemums, roses, and their families. Meet cosmos, zinnias, dahlias, and gerberas. . The daisy is everyone’s favourite ray flower - but which variety? When is a rose not a rose? When it’s a hellebore! 528 colour and b/w images