A highly original collection of high magnification photographs that unlock the hidden beauty of seeds and fruit, from the author of Microsculpture

The Hidden Beauty of Seeds & Fruits is a photographic study that celebrates the wonders of nature and science in mind-blowing magnification. Levon Biss’ striking photography captures the breathtaking and beautiful details of the world of carpology, the study of seeds and fruits. Each picture reveals minute features and textures that are normally invisible to the naked eye, providing the audience with an insight into strange and often bizarre adaptations that have evolved over thousands of years. After spending months searching through the carpological collection at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Biss selected over a hundred striking samples to be featured in this book. Captioned with scientific text that provides the backstory for each specimen, The Hidden Beauty of Seeds & Fruits is guaranteed to amaze, entertain, and educate.

The art of Makoto Azuma uses flowers and plants as its starting point, but juxtaposes their timeless yet transient beauty with an incredibly diverse range of striking settings. In a series of sculptures, installations and interactive events, he delights in blurring the boundaries between nature and artifice. Azuma founded the floral atelier Jardins des Fleurs in 2002, taking commissions from private clients as well as brands and corporations, both in Japan and all over the world. His parallel career as an artist began in 2005 and involves creating and exhibiting artworks that turn flowers and plants into a medium for self-expression. In 2008, Azuma founded AMKK (Azuma Makoto Kaju Kenkyujo), a group specializing in experimental floral creation, with the aim of seeking new forms of botanical beauty and new ways to exhibit them. His works have travelled the globe, from barren deserts to frozen expanses, from thousands of feet below the sea to the very edge of space. Featuring more than sixty projects captured in breathtaking photography, this beautiful book is the most comprehensive showcase of Azuma's art ever published.

A passionate advocate of craftsmanship over mass-production, William Morris (1834– 1896) designed a huge variety of objects, but it is his highly original carpet, fabric and wallpaper patterns that have continued to capture the imagination and exert their influence on the decorative arts. Around 600 such designs are attributed to Morris, of which the vast majority are based on natural forms, including trees, plants and flowers.

This beautifully designed, accessibly priced gift book offers a wealth of designs by Morris in which flowers are the principal motif, bringing together not only completed patterns but also working drawings in pen and watercolour, and examples of his pearwood, floral-pattern printing blocks. It also explores examples of the sources that inspired Morris’s flower-based designs: his own gardens at the Red House in Kent, Kelmscott Manor in Oxfordshire and elsewhere; 16th- and 17th-century herbals; illuminated medieval manuscripts; late medieval and Renaissance tapestries; and a range of decorated objects, particularly from the Islamic world, that Morris studied at the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A). Authored by Rowan Bain, curator at the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow, north London, and lavishly illustrated with almost 100 colour illustrations, this exquisite book will both inform and delight

Renowned watercolourist David Bellamy shares his passion for painting seas and shorelines in this inspiring and practical book. There is advice on finding subjects and painting the different moods of the sea; rocks, crags and cliffs; adding figures and animals into your artworks; as well as an in-depth look at the painting and sketching techniques required. David's extensive travels mean that seas and shorelines from all over the world appear in the paintings.

George Stubbs (1724-1806), now recognized as one of the greatest and most original artists of the eighteenth century, stands out from other practitioners in the field of animal painting. His most frequent commissions were for paintings of horses, dogs, and wild animals, and his images invariably arrest attention and frequently strike a deeply poetic note. Stubbs did not emerge as a painter until he was in his mid-thirties, but then his genius flowered astonishingly. He steadily celebrates English sporting and country life and reveals himself-in his "incidental" portraits of jockeys and grooms, for example-as a perceptive observer of different levels of social behavior. Among his many experiments with technique were his chemical experiments with painting in enamels, first on copper and later on earthenware "tablets," manufactured for him in Wedgwood's potteries. This is the first full catalogue of Stubbs's paintings and drawings. Along with the full catalogue entries, the book offers a lengthy study of Stubbs's art and career. Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

Horses are very rare in Africa. The few to be found west of Sudan, from the lands of the Sahara and Sahel down to the fringes of the tropical forests, belong to the king, the chief warrior and to notable persons. Due to the dense humidity of the tropical rainforest and the deadly tsetse fly, only restricted numbers of horses survive. And yet rider and mount sculptures are common among the Dogon, Djenne, Bamana, Senufo and the Yoruba people. The Akan-Asante people of Ghana and the Kotoko of Chad produced a good deal of small casting brass and bronze sculptures. Some of the artists could barely even have caught a glimpse of a horse. This visually stunning book presents a wealth of African art depicting the horse and its rider in a variety of guises, from Epa masks and Yoruba divination cups to Dogon sculptures and Senufo carvings. In Mali, the Bamana, Boso and Somono ethnic groups still celebrate the festivals of the puppet masquerade. The final chapter of this book is dedicated to the art and cult of these festivals, which are still alive and well. It is not the habit of the African artist to provide intellectual statements for his work, yet his unique creative dynamic and far-searching vision does not conflict with that of his Western counterpart. It is fair to state that the African, who though not educated in Western art history, contributed his fair share to the shaping of modern art. Features works from museums in both Africa and Europe, including the Musee Royal de L'Afrique Central, Tervuren in Belgium; Afrika Museum, Berg en Dal, Netherlands; Musee du quai Branly, Paris; Museum Rietberg, Zurich; The British Museum, London; Museu National de Antologia, Lisbon and National Museum, Lagos, Nigeria.

A unique and exciting approach to botanical illustration, this beginner guide demonstrates everything you need to know about capturing beautiful botanical specimens on paper.Each exercise guides the reader through a different aspect of botanical illustration, breaking the whole process down into simple, easy-to-follow stages. Whether you are a beginner looking for advice on composition and how to plot out your initial drawings, an experienced artist looking to develop your skills at colour mixing and working with unusual colours, or an old hand looking to capture more challenging and complex textures and shapes, there is something for botanical artists of all levels.Acclaimed artists Rosie Martin and Meriel Thurstan ran the popular botanical painting course at the Eden Project and have filled this fantastically illustrated guide with practical and inspirational worksheets, colour swatches, sketches and stunning finished paintings.

Identifying a beautiful image in nature is easy, but capturing it is often challenging. To truly seize the essence of a photograph shot out of the studio and in the world requires an artistic eye and impeccable set of photographic techniques. John and Barbara Gerlach have been teaching photographers how to master the craft of photographing nature and the outdoors through their workshops and best-selling books for more than twenty years. Now, equipped with brand new images to share and skills to teach, this celebrated photo team is sharing their latest lessons in the second edition of Digital Nature Photography. Notable revisions in this new edition include introducing the concepts of focus stacking and HDR, as well as expanded discussions of multiple exposure, wireless flash, RGB histograms, live view, shutter priority with auto ISO, hand-held shooting techniques, and the author's equipment selections. The inspiring imagery in this book covers a broader range of subjects than before including ghost towns, the night sky, animals, and sports, in addition to the classic nature photographs we expect from this very talented author team. This book is a comprehensive guide to one of the broadest subjects in photography, explained and dymystified by two respected masters.

Samuel Palmer (1805-1881) was one of the leading British landscape painters of the 19th century. Inspired by his mentor, the artist and poet William Blake, Palmer brought a new spiritual intensity to his interpretation of nature, producing works of unprecedented boldness and fervency. Pre-eminent scholar William Vaughan-who organized the Palmer retrospective at the British Museum and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2005-draws on unpublished diaries and letters, offering a fresh interpretation of one of the most attractive and sympathetic, yet idiosyncratic, figures of the 19th century. Far from being a recluse, as he is often presented, Palmer was actively engaged in Victorian cultural life and sought to exert a moral power through his artwork. Beautifully illustrated with Palmer's visionary and enchanted landscapes, the book contains rich studies of his work, influences, and resources. Vaughan also shows how later, enthralled by the Pre-Raphaelite movement, Palmer manipulated his own artistic image to harmonize with it. Little appreciated in his lifetime, Palmer is now hailed as a precursor of modernism in the 20th century. Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

The French Revolution had a marked impact on the ways in which citizens saw the newly liberated spaces in which they now lived. Painting, gardening, cinematic displays of landscape, travel guides, public festivals, and tales of space flight and devilabduction each shaped citizens' understanding of space. Through an exploration of landscape painting over some 40 years, Steven Adams examines the work of artists, critics and contemporary observers who have largely escaped art historical attention to show the importance of landscape as a means of crystallising national identity in a period of unprecedented political and social change.

British flower painting has its own unique, if relatively recent, history, but it can only be judged in the light of the wider history of the subject and by comparison with other, particularly European, countries. The first chapter of "A History and Dictionary of British Flower Painters", therefore, sets the scene with a brief introduction to floral art world wide before the next four chapters concentrate on British flower painting in the seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Over ninety colour plates illustrate these five chapters. The Dictionary gives the biographical details of more than 970 British flower painters from 1650-1950 including their specialities, awards, exhibitions an bibliographical details. The work of many is illustrated in black and white.

Birds & Words is a true reflection of Charley Harper, that rare species of a man with twinkling eyes and smile, with wit as infectiously keen and light-hearted as his paintings. Harper the humorist is as captivating in the self composed stories that accompany his serigraphs as Harper the artist. This boxed reissue of the highly collectible 1974 classic is perfect for every bird lover, art collector and Charley Harper fan alike. Specially made cloth wrapped boxes open to reveal a numbered cloth bound book and one of four beautiful silk-screen prints, each estate stamped and hand numbered. A perfect gift for any occasion.

A gorgeous, easy-to-follow, and inspiring guide to stunningly realistic botanical drawing that covers everything you need to draw our natural world. Achieve amazingly realistic and vibrant botanical illustrations, from flowers so dazzling you feel as if you might be able to smell them, to tomatoes that look as if they've just been picked from the garden. Wendy Hollender is known for her vivid, detailed, and inspiring illustrations and in The Joy of Botanical Drawing, she helps you take your art to the next level by sharing her perfected techniques through short lessons that start simple, then build on the basics with easy-to-use and clear step-by-step illustrations. Using colored pencils and watercolor pencils, Hollender shows you how to accomplish scientifically accurate botanical portraits of a spiraling pine cone, a spiky chestnut, a fuchsia-tined radish, a graceful morning glory, and many more. From colorful leaves to delicate petals to textured bark and slender stems, The Joy of Botanical Drawing will give you the skills to complete lifelike drawings while also enjoying nature and the mindfulness of a regular drawing practice.

Cats playing a quiet game of cards, cats at the ballet, cats having a leisurely lunch on the grass, cats boating on the river... Here are the quintessential Impressionist cats, painted with vivid, joyous colours in their favourite haunts, at their ease in various ordinary activities. With their pensive, brooding expressions, cats lend themselves perfectly to reimagining the great works of the Impressionist masters, whether strolling among Monet's wild poppies, sitting in Mary Cassatt's loge at the opera, or even enjoying a Sunday dance at Renoir's Bougival. They can be charming or steeped in mute despair, vulgar or lovingly maternal, bourgeois or intellectual - but they are always Impressionist cats, caught as if by the camera, spontaneous and unprepared.

Colour mixing is a key skill for the botanical artist. In this practical guide, Jackie Isard explains how to observe and use colour accurately. She shows artists how to make informed choices when selecting pigments, as well as how to learn about colour mixing and its application. Detailed instruction and advice are given on understanding colour and pigments. The author explains how to 'see' colour and tricky mixes, from greens and reds to the difficult botanical greys. Includes advanced colour application techniques - colour enhancement, shadow colours and colour temperature transition. Finally, step-by-step guides illustrate how to paint with layers, how to use underlaying colours to enhance, and colour and fine detailing.

Combining deep focus with a multifaceted approach to reveal formal, technical, and spiritual aspects of the olive tree motif that dominated the painter's production during his time in a Provencal asylum Van Gogh and the Olive Groves reunites for the first time the important series of paintings that Vincent van Gogh (1853-90) dedicated to the motif of olive trees during his stay at the asylum of Saint-Remy-de-Provence. The book contextualizes this work within Van Gogh's artistic production and explores its deeply personal, often religious resonance. It also features in-depth findings on the artist's technique, materials, and palette resulting from a three-year cross-disciplinary conservation science research project that rigorously examined all 15 paintings. Of particular interest are new discoveries concerning Van Gogh's use of unstable pigments, his application of paint en plein air versus in the studio, and the chronology of the series. Produced between June and December 1889, this bold and highly experimental series employs the motif as a constant in the artist's passionate investigation of the expressive powers of color, line, and subject. Painting the olive trees at different times of day and in different seasons was a quest to unlock their quintessential features, which to him represented the spirit of Provence. Distributed for the Dallas Museum of Art Exhibition Schedule: Dallas Museum of Art (October 17, 2021-February 6, 2022) Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (March 11-June 12, 2022)

A rich vein of the artist's mature work, depicting the foundations of landscape and place From the mid-1860s until shortly before his death, Paul Cezanne (1839-1906) created 27 canvases that take rock formations as their principal subjects. This is the first publication to focus exclusively on these extraordinary works. It illustrates all of Cezanne's mature paintings of rock formations, including scenes of the terrain of the forest of Fontainebleau, the Mediterranean coastal village of L'Estaque, and the area around Aix-en-Provence, alongside examples of his watercolors of these subjects. An introductory essay by John Elderfield assesses these paintings in terms of their character, development, and relationship to Cezanne's other works; their critical interpretations; and their geological and corporeal associations. Faya Causey's essay examines the Provencal context of Cezanne's rock and quarry paintings, as well as the status of geology in France during the second half of the 19th century. The catalogue section, introduced by Anna Swinbourne, chronicles the sites, presenting details of where specifically the paintings were made and of the features that they represent, together with technical aspects of particular works. Distributed for the Princeton University Art Museum Exhibition Schedule: Princeton University Art Museum

HorseLife defines what it is to love horses and how that appreciation influences everyday life. You may not own a horse or even live close to one, but anyone who has taken the reins before knows the transcendent calm that comes from something as simple as watching the setting sun on horseback or a nuzzling velvet nose on your palm when you return to the stable. Artful photography and heartfelt passages make this book the perfect gift for the horse lover in your herd. Ride softly, listen carefully & love completely.

In celebration of the world's favorite animal, we bring you over 400 photographs of or about dogs. With pictures from the 19th century to today, the collection includes works by Man Ray, Eric Fischl, Wolfgang Tillmans, Donna Ruskin, Fatima NeJame, Vincent Versace, and of course Elliott Erwitt and William Wegman. Together, their pictures, unique in style but united in canine affection, are testimony if ever there was one that dogs are not only best friends, but also pure photographic inspiration. Forget #dogsofinstagram, this is real canine art, showing how the camera has been key witness to dogs in all their diversity, character, and friendship, from pensive pooch portraits to four-pawed action shots. As intellectually as it is visually stimulating, the book includes captivating essays tracing the presence of dogs in the history of photography and their relationship with humans across the decades. About the series Bibliotheca Universalis - Compact cultural companions celebrating the eclectic TASCHEN universe!

Experience the beauty, essence and character of thirty North American bird species. Inspired by traditional Asian brushwork and haiku, the artwork and text by Vanessa Sorensen capture the quirky traits peculiar to each species. Zen Birds celebrates the amazing lives of birds--a must-have for any bird lover or nature enthusiast.

The British Museum's vast collections include wonderful images of birds from all over the world. Some are primarily decorative, whereas Thomas Bewick and the Japanese artist Kitagawa Utamaro chose to show birds in realistic detail, going about their daily lives. Other artists concentrate on scientific accuracy. The endless variety of birds, their freedom of sky, land and water, and especially their song have also inspired writers through the ages. Each striking image in this beautiful anthology is matched with a poem about the same species. Some were composed by our best-loved writers - including Shakespeare, Chaucer and Tennyson - and others have been selected from less familiar or even anonymous voices around the world. Now in a fresh new paperback format, this is an irresistible gift for anyone who loves birds.

In 1559 and 1561, the Antwerp print publisher Hieronymus Cock issued an unprecedented series of landscape prints known today simply as the Small Landscapes. The forty-four prints included in the series offer views of the local countryside surrounding Antwerp in simple, unembellished compositions. At a time when vast panoramic and allegorical landscapes dominated the art market, the Small Landscapes represent a striking innovation. This book offers the first comprehensive analysis of the significance of the Small Landscapes in early modern print culture. It charts a diachronic history of the series over the century it was in active circulation, from 1559 to the middle of the seventeenth century. Adopting the lifespan of the prints as the framework of the study, Alexandra Onuf analyzes the successive states of the plates and the changes to the series as a whole in order to reveal the shifting artistic and contextual valences of the images at their different moments and places of publication. This unique case study allows for a new perspective on the trajectory of print publishing over the course of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries across multiple publishing houses, highlighting the seminal importance of print publishers in the creation and dissemination of visual imagery and cultural ideas. Looking at other visual materials and contemporary sources - including texts as diverse as humanist poetry and plays, agricultural manuals, polemical broadsheets, and peasant songs - Onuf situates the Small Landscapes within the larger cultural discourse on rural land and the meaning of the local in the turbulent early modern Netherlands. The study focuses new attention on the active and reciprocal intersections between printed pictures and broader cultural, economic and political phenomena.