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Plant – exploring the botanical world

Posted on September 22, 2016 by Niki under Uncategorized

Plant – Exploring the Botanical World
New book by Phaidon editors, with an introduction by James Compton
Published by Phaidon, September 2016

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Phaidon has just published a beautiful new book entitled ‘Plant: Exploring the Botanical World’. According to the dust jacket, this book includes “over 300 outstanding botanical works of art from throughout history“, so naturally I am absolutely delighted to have my work selected by an international panel of experts for inclusion in it. There is an extraordinary array of stunning images,  from ancient stone carvings and manuscripts, through drawings, paintings, etchings, engravings, lithographs and early photographs, to contemporary works of art. Refreshingly, this book “brings together botanical art across all media” as well as throughout history, and it is eye-opening to see the range of techniques that have been, and are being, used to document or portray plants throughout the world.

It is explained that the artworks are arranged, not as is usual by date or by artist, but in contrasting or complementary pairs, to “create thought-provoking juxtapositions“. For example, my digital composite illustration of the sweet briar rose (on page 211) is placed opposite a 19th century German chromolithograph designed as an educational poster, highlighting the fact that they are both composite images containing labeled plant parts and dissections. The latter though was created a hundred and ten years earlier, is set on a black background and was created for educational purposes, whereas my digitally created illustration has a white background and was created as both a record of a particular plant and as a plate for identification purposes, and was designed to be multi-purpose – for reference, education and to be interactive.

“Plant explores the fascinating role of plants in our history and culture …and celebrates the extraordinary beauty and diversity of plants from around the world”

Hardback  £39.95 | 300 colour & black and white illustrations | 352 pages | 290 x 250 mm |

ISBN: 9780714871486         www.phaidon.com

 

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