Flowers 1796 - 1808

Curator: I’m immediately drawn to how delicate these “Flowers” appear. A softness to them—almost as though I could gently blow them away. Editor: That's interesting. Anne Allen created this between 1796 and 1808. It's a watercolor and print on paper, currently residing here at the Art Institute of Chicago. I wonder, do you see anything deeper at play? Curator: Well, there's a sense of, dare I say, polite rebellion here? These aren’t perfectly photorealistic, like some botanical illustrations. The colors are slightly fantastical. It's as if Allen captured the idea of flowers rather than their strict reality. The blueness of those daisy-like blooms hints at something more symbolic, more dreamlike than real. Editor: I agree. Blue often embodies unattainable ideals and longing. Consider its association with royalty—the "blue bloods"— and distant spirituality through the Madonna's blue robes, indicative of divine favor. Do you think Allen might use these elements to capture her sense of being confined? As she was an amateur, do you believe she was maybe disallowed from working on more pressing paintings? Curator: Perhaps so! We may be experiencing Allen breaking free through watercolors, adding splashes of emotional tone, a sense of freedom perhaps denied in other parts of her life. Editor: A botanical record imbued with longing...it's a potent, hidden narrative in the arrangement itself. Curator: Absolutely, almost like a secret garden blooming on paper, carrying meanings beyond their pretty forms. Editor: And so, we find Allen, like many artists of the Romantic period, drawing symbolism to the natural world. Fascinating how something so apparently simple reveals so much, don’t you think? Curator: Yes! Allen teaches us to appreciate these gentle voices. Every petal holds a narrative, whispering from the past.