Contemporary Botanical Artists: The Shirley Sherwood Collection

To anyone who doubts that the art of botanical illustration is alive and well in the 20th century, this stunning volume will be a revelation. Here representative works of more than 100 contemporary botanical artists from around the world are presented in superb color reproductions that do full justice to their breathtaking beauty and technical brilliance. Far more than scientific studies, these exquisite depictions of everything from pansies, squash blossoms and beetroot to mushrooms, lilies and exotic tropical plants are elegant works of art, some by well-known artists such as Margaret Mee and Anne Ophelia Dowden; others are by equally talented artists only beginning to be recognized by the general public, often because of Sherwood's interest. The illustrations are accompanied by perceptive essays in which the author, a trustee of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, explains how she built her collection, gives her impressions of the artists and their working methods and evaluates their output and careers. This glorious book, published in conjunction with a traveling exhibition, proves that botanical illustration, so popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, is no less an art form today. (Sept.)