Customer Reviews

Art Forms in Nature (Prestel Minis)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) was a renown biologist and zoologist who was very adept at rendering fantastically detailed color and black and white drawings of a wide variety of life forms from microscopic sea life on up to plants, fish, birds and mammals.

Most of the plates (about 50) in this beautiful HC Prestel Mini-series are done in color and each with the taxonomic order. There is a Foreward by Melanie Klier giving a short over-view of Haeckel's life and his dedication to promoting interest in nature through his artwork. This book is small and compact and will fit in a shirt pocket- sort of a Haeckel-on-the-go, if you will. A larger paperback version Art Forms in Nature is available.

There is a large-format edition of Ernest Haeckel's Art Forms In Nature on the market which is more appropriate for library lending. This Prestel edition of Ernest Haeckel's miniature version will appeal to the home user who might find inviting this mini-survey of art forms in nature. Illustrations of mammals, leaves, seashells and more provide both black and white and color embellishment extolling the wonder of art in the natural world. A winning little title, even if it does get lost on the shelf at times, being half the size of a normal paperback, and twice as thin.

There are multiple books with reproductions of Haeckel's Art Forms in Nature. Two are published by Prestel: a $25 9x12 monograph with essays about the work, and a $9 3x5 postcard book. The descriptions of the two are mixed up. Both are great for what they are.

Art Forms in Nature: The Prints of Ernst Haeckel (Monographs)

decent for the price but it's made for little tiny people with little tiny little hands, cuz it has these little tiny ilustrations with bowed legs.

I've wanted to get one of Haeckel's books for a while. His drawings are lovely, truely inspirational....BUT this book was a big disappointment, and one which could have been avoided had I paid closer attention to the product description. It is pocket-sized: 3 inches across!!

It's hard to see the magnificent detail in Haeckel's work on a page so small.

this is one of those things I would NEVER have bought if I picked it up in a book store. It looks like one of those little gift books..

so, if you buy this, do so with the knowledge that it is tiny, and consider buying the larger edition. it's what I would have done, had I looked at/ considered the dimensions of this book.

Edited to note that this review was written about the mini edition. For some reason Amazon put it under other editions of the book (which seems to have puzzled some people- myslef included). The art is lovely. get it in a size which allows you to enjoy it. The smaller edition is very very much so.