MOMENTS IN POT CULTURE: THE ANEMONE

Words by Jessica Peace

Anyone for champoo? Bottoms up and paracetamols in the morning. Caught up in the Art Nouveau swing, in 1902 master glass maker Emile Gallé slapped the anemone on the bottle of ‘Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque’ that you’ll still find in swanky bars now.

January blues... Margaret Mellis’ melancholy display, ‘Blue Anemone’ (1957) is an experiment with colour; restricting herself to squeezing just one tube of paint and showing there is beauty in decay.

Sufjan Stevens and his lovely wailing mates made the album ‘Planetarium’ a few years back. They didn’t forget the anemone when writing ‘Venus’: “Crazed nymphomania / Touch me if touchings no sin / Heart shaped / Anemone felt from within”. Ooh I say! (Bit of Greek background: Venus fancies Adonis but when he’s gored to death by a boar her tears mix with his blood and form the anemone, you’re welcome.)