Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom

Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom gathers the eponymous series of paintings by Anselm Kiefer (born 1945), begun in 2000 and derived from photographs taken on a trip to China in 1993. The title refers to a common misquotation of a phrase of Chairman Mao's ("Let a hundred flowers bloom"). Kiefer's abundantly blooming landscapes illustrate this expression, and reflect on the bitterly ironic disparity between Mao's espousal of plurality and his massive suppression of dissent. In some...
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Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom gathers the eponymous series of paintings by Anselm Kiefer (born 1945), begun in 2000 and derived from photographs taken on a trip to China in 1993. The title refers to a common misquotation of a phrase of Chairman Mao's ("Let a hundred flowers bloom"). Kiefer's abundantly blooming landscapes illustrate this expression, and reflect on the bitterly ironic disparity between Mao's espousal of plurality and his massive suppression of dissent. In some paintings, the figure of Mao can be seen either painted within the landscape, emerging from the flowers his hand in a beckoning salute or, in some cases, painted on a section of canvas placed either above the central panel or on one side. Published for Kiefer's exhibition at White Cube Hong Kong, this clothbound volume reproduces these paintings and two sculptures of bicycles crushed by books.