Lily and Rose
Lowell Nesbitt, American, 1933 - 1993
1974
Lithograph and aquatint
Image: 21 1/2 × 33 1/4 in. (54.6 × 84.5 cm)
Sheet: 24 × 35 1/2 in. (61 × 90.2 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Archie van Elsander
PR.979.149.4
Portfolio / Series Title
Les Fleurs du Mal
Publisher
Editions Press, San Francisco, California
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
20th century
Object Name
Research Area
Not on view
Label
Lowell Nesbitt isolates the lily and the rose, inviting us to linger and appreciate their grace. The bold comparison upends expectations—neither a bouquet nor a scientific botanical specimen, Nesbitt’s print creates a visual dialogue between color and form to emphasize the uniqueness of each flower.
This print is part of a larger portfolio titled Les Fleurs du Mal [The Flowers of Evil], named after Charles Baudelaire’s erotic and decadent poems first published in 1857. By referencing Baudelaire, Nesbitt also alludes to flowers as a plant’s reproductive organs and emphasizes their sexual connotations.
From the 2024 exhibition Beyond the Bouquet: Arranging Flowers in American Art, curated by Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art
Course History
English 39.01, American Fiction: 1950-1990, Kimberly Brown, Winter 2025
Italian 1.01, Introductory Italian I, Floriana Ciniglia, Spring 2025
Spanish 3.01, Spanish III, Natalia Monetti, Spring 2025
Spanish 3.02, Spanish III, Natalia Monetti, Spring 2025
Anthropology 31.01, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies 36.01, Gender in Cross Cultural Perspectives, Sabrina Billings, Fall 2025
Studio Session: Beyond the Bouquet, Winter 2025
Special Tour: Attitude of Coexistence and Beyond the Bouquet, Winter 2025
Exhibition Tour: Attitudes of Coexistence and Beyond the Bouquet, Winter 2025
Exhibition History
Beyond the Bouquet: Arranging Flowers in American Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 18, 2024 - March 10, 2025.
Contemporary Graphics: New Aquisitions, Lower Jewett Corridor, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 12, 1980-May 11, 1981.
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