As featured in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, The Daily Telegraph, Garden & Gun, Gardens Illustrated, The Guardian, Martha Stewart Living, Natural History Magazine, New Scientist, Newsweek, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Seattle Times, Smithsonian, The Sunday Times, Tatler, The Wall Street Journal, and on Atlas Obscura, BBC Focus, Goop, and mental_floss
"I am totally mesmerized by the extraordinary range of artists, scientists and technicians represented. Wonderful and absorbing and loving." —Edwina von Gal, Landscape Designer
"From the winning cover to the beautiful images inside, Plant is a complete pleasure covering centuries of botanical art. Artist information and provenance is dutifully recorded. Inspiration and imagination is there for the taking. This new book is classic Phaidon and bound to be a bestseller." —David Whitman, Pergola
"The timeless pleasure of looking at plants: a new illustrated book examines mankind's fascination with making images of plants through the ages... Compton's fascination with what different people have done within the remit of botanical art jumps out of every one of Plant's pages. The variety is astounding." —The Daily Telegraph
"An inspiring delight and great resource for those who cherish all things botany." —Emily Thompson, Emily Thompson Flowers
"The side by side juxtapositions of images here are brilliant. The clear pencil drawings of Van Gogh and Ellsworth Kelly my favorites, so delicate, just gorgeous." —Perry Guillot, Landscape Architect
"My award for sumptuous volume of 2016 has to go to Plant: Exploring the Botanical World, 300 works of botanical art from ancient times to the present in every imaginable medium... The images are thought-provokingly juxtaposed." —The Sunday Times, Move
"A breathtaking collection of botanical prints, photos, drawings, and even micrograph scans." —Martha Stewart Living
"Botanical art of all kinds, from a Minoan fresco of swallows billing among ocher red Lilium chalecondicum, painted circa 1600 B.C., to a hand-colored image from a scanning electron microscope of the seed of an alpine pincushion flower, its plum-colored skirts floating like a ballerina mid-jeté. These are things of beauty, but they have a purpose beyond decoration. Plant's editors [...] don't confine themselves to the strictly scientific."—Newsweek
"Celebrates the beauty and diversity of plants from around the world across all media - from murals in ancient Greece to a Napoleonic-era rose print and cutting-edge scans." —The Guardian
"The ultimate gift for gardeners and art-lovers."—Goop
"300 of the loveliest botanical images ever collated." —Town and Country
"A glorious visual compendium of plants and flowers that spans thousands of years." —Atlas Obscura
"This beautiful new book is like having a botanical art exhibition on your coffee table." —Waitrose Weekend
"A glorious presentation of how we've represented flora and fauna in art and photography throughout history." —Outdoor Photography
★ 12/01/2016
This wondrous work about art, biology, and nature is international in scope, presenting notable images from prehistoric times to the present. Artworks are juxtaposed to allow the viewer to compare and contrast the images placed on opposite pages. A photograph of a spring crocus in UV light is opposite an epi-illumination (light shone through a microscope) of a tribulus bud; a radiographe des fleurs faces a California tree poppy rendered in glass. Other images include engravings, lithographs, oil paintings, watercolors, sculpture, fabric cyanotypes, X-rays, color-enhanced scanning electron micrographs (SEM), traditional pen-and-ink sketches, and more. The artists represented range from Georgia O'Keeffe and Beatrix Potter to Charles Darwin and John Ruskin, among others. Under each image is a fascinating brief synopsis about the artist, their process, technique, and/or other notable or historical details about the object or plant displayed. This book concludes with a time line relating to the items included, a plant taxonomy and glossary, and selected biographical sketches. VERDICT If you purchase one art book that will inspire, educate, delight, and epitomize nature, then this is the volume to get.—Stephen Allan Patrick, Jonesborough, TN
