Cy Twombly: Blooming: A Scattering of Blossoms and Other Things

This book was published on the occasion of Cy Twombly: Blooming: A Scattering of Blossoms and Other Things at Gagosian, West 21st Street, New York. The exhibition featured a body of work that was first exhibited at Collection Lambert in Avignon, France, in 2007. These exuberant paintings on wooden panels feature blossoms realized in vivid hues of crayon and acrylic paint, with poetic inscriptions. Known as the “peony” paintings, the series references eighteenth-century French art and décor, Japonisme, and the spirit of Abstract Expressionism. The book’s panoramic format allows for generous reproductions of these large-scale paintings, with details and studio photography. An essay by Robert Pincus-Whitten examines the stylization and allusions of the works, discussing Twombly’s interest in Japanese haiku and ideogrammatic forms.