Botanica Magnifica: Portraits of the World's Most Extraordinary Flowers and Plants

by Jonathan M. Singer (Photographer), W. John Kress (Text by), Marc Hachadourian (Text by)

Overview

An unabridged miniature edition of Botanica Magnifica, featuring two hundred and fifty stunning photographs of rare or exotic plants and flowers by the “Audubon of flowers,” Jonathan Singer

First published as an oversized clothbound volume in 2009, Botanica Magnifica has received widespread acclaim from the scientific and artistic communities. In the words of an ARTnews critic, Singer’s flowers and plants, photographed “in large scale and exquisite detail, emerge from the shadows in a manner evocative of Old Master paintings.”

Now we are pleased to offer this masterwork of botanical photography as a pocket-sized hardcover book, in our trademarked Tiny Folio format. Mirroring the design of the larger edition, this little volume is organized into five alphabetically arranged sections: (I) Orchidaceae, presenting the full diversity of orchids; (II) Florilegium, portraying the complexity and beauty of flowers; (III) Proteus, illustrating plant forms perfectly adapted for survival; (IV) Zingiberaceae, a tribute to the fascinating ginger family and (V) Botanicus, a selection of beautiful and bizarre specimens from the Smithsonian’s research collection. Each pictured plant is accompanied by a clear and accessible description of its botany, geography, history, and conservation.

With its marvelous reproductions and fascinating text, the Tiny Folio of Botanica Magnifica is a charming miniature version of one of the most impressive volumes of natural history ever published.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780789211378
Publisher:	Abbeville Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/09/2013
Series:	Tiny Folio , #28
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	4.30(w) x 4.50(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Jonathan Singer’s double-elephant folio of Botanica Magnifica is kept in the Cullman Rare Book Room at the Smithsonian Institution Libraries. Dr. Singer was named a Hasselblad Laureate Award winner based on his contribution to fine art photography and to “our perception and appreciation of the botanical world.”

W. John Kress is a Curator of Botany and Research Scientist at the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution. He is the author of Abbeville’s The Weeping Goldsmith: Discoveries in the Secret Land of Myanmar and has written many articles on botany.

Marc Hachadourian is the curator of Glasshouse Collections at the New York Botanical Garden. With over fifteen years of commercial and specialist horticultural experience, he supervises the care of the botanical collections and exhibition crops in the greenhouses. He specializes in orchids, aquatics, blubs, and alpines and is particularly interested in public awareness of global plant conservation and the appreciation of plant biodiversity.

Read an Excerpt

Excerpt from
Botanica Magnifica:




PREFACE


What will be the role of the photographic artist in the natural sciences for the rest of the twenty-first century? Is it possible for an artist’s vision to complement scientific exploration? With every leap forward of technology and exploration, I have observed that the boundaries of science and art intersect. While it is the role of science to quantify and verify the new frontier, it is the artist who leads us into the unknown, illuminating nature from the shadows and revealing its wonders.


From the first cave artists who documented scenes of the hunt to the painters and photographers who accompanied the opening of the American West, it has often been the artist who embraces new technology, bringing to light the never-before seen. Innovative American artists specializing in the natural sciences have included John James Audubon, George Catlin, and Ansel Adams. It is my hope that Botanica Magnifica will also contribute to a deeper understanding of nature, as the works of these artists did in their time.


What makes my botanical photographs so different? With my photographs I try to transcend the medium and see the subject itself. My aim is to make the viewer forget he or she is looking at a photograph and begin a deeper journey into the botanical world. Just as some painters attempt to make their brushstrokes (hence their presence) invisible, I attempt to photograph my subjects with clarity and humility. The resulting images seem to strike an inner chord and resonate with unexpected emotion.


The limited, original edition of Botanica Magnifica, consisting of five hand-bound volumes, was donated to the Smithsonian Institution. The extra-large “double-elephant” format of that edition was chosen in homage to the famous double-elephant folio of Audubon’s Birds of America, and indeed, Botanica Magnifica is one of the few works of natural history ever to rival Audubon’s magnum opus in its scope and artistry. Thus, Botanica Magnifica is at home both on the walls of art museums and shelved with reference books in scientific libraries for generations to come—hence the fusion of art and science.


I have had the privilege of working with two accomplished botanists—W. John Kress from the Smithsonian Institution and Marc Hachadourian at the New York Botanical Garden—without whose help Botanica would not have been started. They provide the scientific and anecdotal accounts of the unusual plants and flowers presented in these pages.


Dr. Kress has explored the world’s rain forests and has seen their destruction. That ongoing annihilation of these precious resources is why we have chosen to marry art with science in a unique way that compels us all to look again at our global ecosystems before there is nothing more to see. Maybe because of my images, people will rally to take action against the destruction of habitats. The question is how. I believe the answer lies with the great scientific institutions of the world coming together. With my efforts in both Botanica Magnifica and Tulipae Hortorum (residing in the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm), it is my aim to provide the art that will help the science understand the urgency to conserve the world’s biodiversity. That is my life’s mission.


— Jonathan M. Singer

Table of Contents

Table of Contents from: Botanica Magnifica
Preface


Introduction


I. Orchidaceae
Presents the full diversity of orchids, one of the largest and most exquisite families of flowering plants.


II. Florilegium
Portrays the complexity and beauty of flowers.


III. Proteus
Named for the shape-changing sea god of Greek mythology because it illustrates plant forms perfectly adapted for survival.


IV. Zingerbraceae
A tribute to the ginger family, whose members include both common tropical plants and rarities at risk of extinction.


V. Botanicus
A selection of beautiful and bizarre specimens from the renowned botanical research collection of the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian.


Index of Plant Names

Editorial Reviews

Praise for
Botanica Magnifica:




"This has to be, hands down, the most gorgeous book of the year." — ARTnews



"Goes way beyond typical nature photography to reveal not just the shape and substance of these living things but also their essence." — O, the Oprah Magazine



"Art aficionados marvel at their painterly quality, and botanists are in awe of how Singer manages to capture them so true to form." — Smithsonian Magazine



"You've never seen still-lifes of flora this crisp and hyper-real before. Photographer Jonathan Singer uses cutting edge digital techniques to reveal delicate structures of plant life to often jaw-dropping effect." — Elle Magazine



"A podiatrist photographs some of the world’s most endangered flowers with remarkable precision and artistry, hoping to raise the plants’ profiles before it’s too late." — Audubon Magazine



"…It's [Singer's] flowers, in Botanica Magnifica, that have caused quite a stir. Art aficionados marvel at their painterly quality, and botanists are in awe of how Singer manages to capture them so true to form…" — Smithsonian(dot)com



"A greenhouse between two covers." — Reader's Digest




"Botanica Magnifica is truly one of the most amazing natural history publications that has ever appeared…" — Zoom Magazine



"As rare and sublime as the marvels surveyed within its broad covers, Singer has produced a work to rest alongside some of the great botanical codexes in history, one for connoisseurs of the still-life, natural phenomena, and the photographic art." — Library Journal



"This single and singular volume…offers profound delight…Together the artist and the scientist observe and create diverse and new forms with these images." — Bloomsbury Review



"This impressive book should capture the imagination of naturalists and artists as well as the general public." — Choice

From the Publisher

Through its size and luxuriant photographs by Hasselblad Laureate Award winner Singer, this publication exalts the beauty and intricacy of plant life in a way unmatched in generations. Singer's ambitious project is a fulfillment of a desire to carry on the centuries-old tradition of botanical illustration while compelling increased awareness of habitat destruction—in his words "to provide the art that will help the science understand the urgency to conserve the world's biodiversity." Each of the over 250 digital images depicts a single species centered over a coal-black ground. The eye focuses on the plant, its unique character precisely accentuated. The photos are composed with such care, the colors so rich, that it is easy to forget that these are not animate beings imbued with real personalities. Singer organizes the images into five thematic sections in which dozens of plants are carefully arranged with brief technical descriptions by Kress (National Museum of Natural History at Smithsonian Inst. Libs.) and Hachadourian (New York Botanical Garden) appended. VERDICT As rare and sublime as the marvels surveyed within its broad covers, Singer has produced a work to rest alongside some of the great botanical codexes in history, one for connoisseurs of the still-life, natural phenomena, and the photographic art.—Douglas F. Smith, Berkeley P.L., CA\

Library Journal

"A podiatrist photographs some of the world’s most endangered flowers with remarkable precision and artistry, hoping to raise the plants’ profiles before it’s too late."

Audubon Magazine

"You've never seen still-lifes of flora this crisp and hyper-real before. Photographer Jonathan Singer uses cutting edge digital techniques to reveal delicate structures of plant life to often jaw-dropping effect."

Elle Magazine

"Art aficionados marvel at their painterly quality, and botanists are in awe of how Singer manages to capture them so true to form. "

Smithsonian Magazine

"Goes way beyond typical nature photography to reveal not just the shape and substance of these living things but also their essence."

the Oprah Magazine O