Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/ceri-richards-1836" aria-label="More by Ceri Richards" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Ceri Richards</a>
Blossoms
Purchased 1942
abstraction
air raid
aircraft, military
Ciano, Count
emotions, concepts and ideas
from recognisable sources
history
landscape
literature (not Shakespeare)
literature and fiction
man-made
military: World War II
objects
society
transformation
transport: air
universal concepts
weapon, firing / explosion
weapons
<p>Although Richards’ painting of aerial bombardment was made during the Second World War, it refers back to Mussolini’s invasion of Abyssinia in 1935.It was inspired by a florid description of the bombing campaign written by the Italian airman Count Ciano, Mussolini’s son-in-law. Describing his series of paintings on the theme, Richards commented:‘These paintings, obscurely maybe, make flowers into explosions or vice versa, aeroplanes look like aggressive plants, and an incendiary sun rises over the landscape’</p><p><em>Gallery label, November 2006</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
25 July 2002 – 3 June 2003
2003-06-03
25 July 2002 – 30 June 2003
2003-06-30
2002-07-25
Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales (Cardiff, UK)
2002-07-25
Ceri Richards Themes and Variations: A Select Retrospective
Loan-out
6 October 2010 – 25 April 2011
2011-04-25
6 October 2010 – 30 January 2011
2011-01-30
2010-10-06
Millennium Gallery (Sheffield, UK)
http://www.sheffieldgalleries.org.uk
19 February 2011 – 25 April 2011
2011-04-25
2011-02-19
Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery (Norwich, UK)
http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk
9 May 2011 – 6 November 2011
2011-11-06
2011-05-09
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2010-10-06
GBAD: Restless Times: Modern British Art 1914 - 1945
Loan-out
Blossoms
support: 508 × 610 mm
frame: 532 × 635 × 41 mm
Purchased 1942
<p>Although Richards’ painting of aerial bombardment was made during the Second World War, it refers back to Mussolini’s invasion of Abyssinia in 1935.It was inspired by a florid description of the bombing campaign written by the Italian airman Count Ciano, Mussolini’s son-in-law. Describing his series of paintings on the theme, Richards commented:‘These paintings, obscurely maybe, make flowers into explosions or vice versa, aeroplanes look like aggressive plants, and an incendiary sun rises over the landscape’</p>

Display caption
2006-11-10T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N05354</b> BLOSSOMS 1940</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Inscr. ‘Ceri Richards 1940’ b.r., ‘Ceri Richards “Blossoms” 1940’ along strip of turned-over canvas at bottom edge of picture, and ‘Ceri Richards’ on back of canvas.
<br/>Canvas, 20×24 (51×61).
<br/>Purchased from the Leger Gallery (Knapping Fund) 1942.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> Leger Gallery, February–March 1942 (7).
<br/><i>Lit:</i> J. R. Webster, ‘Ceri Richards’ in exh. cat. <i>Ceri Richards</i>, Royal National Eisteddford of Wales, 1961, n.p., repr. pl.8.
<br/><i>Repr:</i> Robin Ironside, <i>Painting since 1939</i>, 1947, facing p.24.</p>
<p>The artist said that this picture was one of a small group done during the first year or two of the Second World War. ‘I remember the impression made on me when I read a description (brutally factual but observant) by a well-known Italian airman [Count Ciano] about an air attack on Abyssinians during that unprovoked war, and the title “Target Blossom” stems from these impressions and later ones, when air bombardments broke out in earnest. These <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a>, obscurely maybe, make flowers into explosions or vice versa, aeroplanes look like aggressive plants, and an incendiary sun rises over the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/l/landscape" title="Glossary definition for 'Landscape'"><span>landscape</span></a>’ (letter of 30 November 1958).</p>
<p>Although this painting was only entitled ‘Blossoms’ in the Leger Gallery exhibition of 1942, two related works, an oil and a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawing</span></a> (Nos.17 and 2 in the catalogue) were given the more explicit titles of ‘Target Blossom’ (1940) and ‘Target Blossom (No.2)’ (1941) respectively. Others were entitled ‘Incendiaries in a Landscape’ and ‘Explosive Plant’. Elements of partially transformed aeroplanes, flowers and exploding bombs are all present in this work.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, II
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-07T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
abstraction aircraft, military air raid Ciano, Count emotions, concepts and ideas from recognisable sources history landscape literature and fiction literature (not Shakespeare) man-made military: World War II objects society transformation transport: air universal concepts weapon, firing / explosion weapons