Flora Photographica is a striking and extravagantly designed book. Each bloom shown here has been observed with that acuity of vision which only the most sensitive artist-photographers can bring to bear.
Here are Mapplethorpes tulips, half-metal, half-living creatures; Steichens delphiniums, preserved in an everlasting summery perfection of blues and pinks; Atgets open-air profusion of poppies; Cunninghams magnolia, richly fertile and lush; Man Rays surreal yet pure calla lily; Chris Enoss dying poinsettia, its colours curdling in decay.
These are masterpieces of photographic art, in an astonishing range of media, from photographys beginnings up to the present day. Full details of the techniques and processes used are elucidated in the introduction and commentaries by the acclaimed photo-historian William A. Ewing, but, above all, here are flowers as we have never seen them before.
|
