Flower, symbol, name: an unexpected tale around the world of the rose
Chefs, noses and designers return to measure themselves against the classic of classics. And an author's rosology explains the renewed fortune of the most beloved of flowers.
What is a rose? The most disliked of flowers - said a lady of my acquaintance when she received a bundle. She had an idea of dislike linked to practicality. She was not, practical, in fact she always pricked herself with thorns when she cut the stems of the roses she had lying in the bathtub, like a body. In short, the roses tested her, the one with the roses was a face to face with her clumsiness. She appreciated the gift, though; at the door she rushed to read the accompanying note, eager to know who the sender was, even when she knew.
'A rose is a rose is a rose' wrote Gertrude Stein in 1913, the year in which the above-mentioned lady was born. On closer inspection, Stein's diaphor does not exclude that a rose may be disliked by you, precisely because it is a rose, regardless. It is not: just a rose, although the verse suggests not to make a big deal out of making a big deal out of it. An ironic as well as lyrical masterpiece. A Rose Is is the title of the exhibition that the Flag Art Foundation in New York recently dedicated to the rose as object and subject in art. A title that quotes the famous line from Stein's poem, Sacred Emily, taking it for granted that it starts from there, and that the sequel is known. A rose is a rose is a rose, then? We know it. But do we really know? In reality, we always know more than we think we know. It blinds us, and underestimates us, the presumption of knowing. Self-deception applies, after all, to everything. A rose is a rose, at the same time, it is one thing, but different for everyone. The first rose in Stein's verse could be the flower, the second the symbol, the third a name or surname, the fruit of a social convention. In that brazen repetition of the same lies the metamorphosis of life. A rose is just a rose, a thing, and yet it has to be made long because it is always another rose, as unique as it is indeterminate. The rose that suits everyone, perhaps, does not exist, just as the world does not exist, there are so many to explore by relying on the category of variety and multiplicity.
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The mature energy of the roses painted by Cy Twombly - the triptych on show at Flag - is already threatened by decay. Just as the 3,000 roses that made up James Lee Byars' sculpture, a red sphere, are destined to fade in real time. The rose is the flower of Valentine's Day, but it also appears on coffins, and has always been a declaration of love, and sorrow. The works dedicated to the rose, signed by well-known and very different artists, should be investigated individually; the thread that binds them, perhaps, is the flower as a mirror of the action of time on matter: living, or dying in the case of Candy Darling on Her Deathbed (1973), the famous photograph by Peter Hujar in which a rose lying on a sheet is the double of the performer lying in her hospital bed.
Since the worlds, we have said, are many, let us step out of the obnoxious species privilege for a moment, and give the roses to the wild bees, poor things, who are in danger of disappearing, and us to follow. What do bees do with roses? It is well known that they are not attracted to the flower. But the leaves of the Rosa chinensis, one of the most common, are apparently very useful for building honeycombs, and worker bees hoard them. The results of research - the article came out in Nature, not exactly the latest of scientific journals - confirm this, so the rose is essential for the survival of bees, even in urban environments.
Judging by some signs, nothing is thrown away from the rose. Even its thorns are used, the thorn powder, for example, enhances certain dishes. Moreno Cedroni could only be behind this alchemy. At the Madonnina del Pescatore they have been studying the thorny menu for quite a while, obviously focusing on the thorns of the fish, but there are also those of the roses.
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