Contemporary Botanical Artists: The Shirley Sherwood Collection [Paperback]

Shirley Sherwood (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2003

Dr. Shirley Sherwood toured the world over a period of five years. The result is more than 100 stunning pieces that offer a global view of contemporary botanical art. “Descriptions combined with sumptuous, full-page illustrations make this a book that will appeal to botanists, or anyone who just wants to page through delicate and beautiful images.”—Publishers Weekly.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sherwood's interest in botany began at age nine, while watching her mother drawing in her studio; then she studied botany at Oxford and earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry. Her career path meandered alongside her husband's, an entrepreneur who resurrected the Orient Express, until a visit to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew prompted her to start collecting contemporary flower paintings. On her travels, Sherwood sought out artists in Rio de Janeiro, South Africa and Australia, among other places, though the abundance of botanical illustrators (mostly women) live in her native England. More than 100 artists from all corners of the earth, with subtly differing styles in botanical painting, are included in here: Arundhati Vartak's (India) Indian Coral Tree calls to mind a page of a royal illuminated manuscript, while Pamela Stagg's (England) Black Parrot Tulip elicits the frenzy of Dutch tulipmania with its rippled beauty. Each artist's spread is accompanied by a short biography or a story explaining how Sherwood acquired the particular work. Professor Jinyong Feng spoke through an uncooperative translator in Beijing while showing his portfolio. Katie Lee of Kenya describes the setting in which she found an exotic yellow orchid on the Rio Negro in Brazil: So pure black was the water, and perfect the reflection it was hard not to be tempted to reach in the water and touch the blossoms. Such descriptions combined with sumptuous, full-page illustrations make this a book that will appeal to botanists, those nostalgic for 18th-century nature painting or anyone who just wants to page through delicate and beautiful images.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Sherwood, a botanist and trustee of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, rekindled her interest in botanical illustration when the Kew Gardens Gallery opened in 1990. Since then, she has acquired a remarkable collection of contemporary botanical art representing artists from 17 countries. To promote revived interest in botanical art and share her collection with the world, she has published this book in conjunction with a traveling exhibition. It is beautifully illustrated with page after page of exquisite reproductions. Sherwood has arranged each artist alphabetically, with brief comments on their background and her personal encounters with them. At least one full-color reproduction appears on the facing page, with some additional detail images that allow closer study of the artists' technique. There is no index to the specimens themselves, but title, size, and medium are noted with each work. More than mere scientific documentation, these images offer transcendence to a world of botanical delight. An excellent addition for art and botanical libraries as well as public libraries with an interest in the subject.?Judith Lesso, Health Sciences Lib., West Virginia Univ.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: WN (June 30, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0297822705
• ISBN-13: 978-0297822707
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,263,973 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, April 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Contemporary Botanical Artists: The Shirley Sherwood Collection (Hardcover)

The pinnacle of botanical illustration books. I own this book and have slowly gone through it many times. It contains paintings by today's most talented botanical illustrators and is both awe inspiring and humbling.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars First exhibition catalog, February 9, 2006

By 

Joan H. Lee (St. Francis, ME) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Contemporary Botanical Artists: The Shirley Sherwood Collection (Paperback)

This book is the catalog for the first traveling exhibition of the Sherwood Collection. The volume features painters from several countries, although most artists represented are from the United Kingdom, in part because, to quote Sherwood, "there are simply more good illustrators in the United Kingdom than anywhere else in the world."

The arrangement of the book is simple. There is a brief essay for each painter, a full page illustration, and an occasional smaller illustration. Some of the full page illustrations are close ups, which is not an advantage to the picture as this device typically shows all minor faults. The essays are mostly trite, providing information about when or how Sherwood found the artist, a few snippets of biography, and almost no technical information about the making of the painting. The arrangement of the book is alphabetical order by artist's last name. The appendix consists of 23 pages of small reproductions, grouped from five to seven on a page, with brief comments.

The reproductions speak well for themselves. Where a thumbnail size reproduction is presented on the verso with an enlargement of part or all of the picture on the recto, one can glean a lot of information about the colors, style, technique, and materials used by the painter. This is delightful if one is technically interested in the details of the pictures, but not the best for overall effect of the painting. Because some of the images are enlargements there is some degredation of visual impact, but that is nicely offset by the magnifying glass view of detail. Most pictures are presented on a full page, some are, sadly, cropped.

The collection shows a luscious variety of styles, from scientific accuracy of Brigid Edwards, to the calligraphic style of Jinyhon Feng, to the stylized work of Arundhati Vartak and the hard edged superrealism of Paul Jones. The full page illustration by Tai-Li Zhang shows how a master handles color, complexity of subject, and realism resulting in a beautiful and accurate design.

Helen Haywood's overly complex rendering of a wild cabbage almost gets in the way of the clarity she strives for in the deft way she manipulates the plant to show all aspects of its anatomy, including, appropriately for scientific botanical illustration, the root system. Contrast that with Mishima's tillandsia, a study in clarity. He shows how to make simple a most complex arrangement so that it does not overwhelm the eye. Paul Jones' camellia is a super realist, decorative study, and one cannot fault it for its cold elegance. A few painters get in their own way as they seem to aim for virtuoso performance. There are five examples by Margaret Mee, that artist who always shows great respect for her subjects.

Sherwood is a biologist collecting contemporary botanical paintings. She states that there is a resurgance in popularity of botanical painting, as suggested by the foundation of the Society of Botanical Artists in the 1980's, and recently the US based American Society of Botanical Artists. Sherwood started collecting art in 1990.

Production standards of the volume are excellent. The pictures are so well reproduced that one can clearly discern the brush strokes, the puddles, the faltering moment here, a color brilliance. It is almost as good as seeing the original painting. This is a must volume for anyone interested in botanical illustration.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book for all lovers of art, April 15, 2001

By 

G. Lara (Brewster, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Contemporary Botanical Artists: The Shirley Sherwood Collection (Hardcover)

When I saw this book I was blown away by the range and quality of the work in it. As soon as I was back at my computer, I purchased a copy for my sister who herself is a botanical illustrator. She too was very impressed with it. You cannot go wrong buying this book if you enjoy art, botanical illustration, or all things beautiful.