CONTEMPORARY BOTANICAL ARTISTS: The Shirley Sherwood Collection

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. (Apr.)