Reflections of Nature: Flowers in American Art

Floral imagery has been a consistent theme in american art from the colonal period to the present day, this modes changing as our percepton of the physical world evolves. Combined with man's deep & timeless appreciation of nature & constant need to find beauty, the scientific curiosity of the enlightenment, the relationships underling Darwin's theories, the twentieth century's preoccupation w/form & structure-all have found expression in American flower painting. This book brings together in one volume the most beautuful exapmples of the genre:: floral paintings, drawings, pastels, & watercolors, many of them reproduced in full color. Included are delicate & precise drawings & studies by the botanist artists of the 18th century: Mark Catesby, William Bartram, & of the fertility & variety of the New World. In contrast are the opulent still lifes, by such 19th century masters as Severin Roesen, george Henry hall, & George Cocgran Lambdin; the romantic landscapes of Frederic E. Church; and the lush tropical panoramas of Marten John son Heode. Certainly one of he most popular movements in european art, Impressonism, has its American counterpart in the abundantly beautiful gardents of Childe hassam, Winslow Lomer, John La Farge, & Maria Oakey Dewing. And with the 20th century come stylistically diverse examples of floral imagery in the work of Georgia O'Keee, charles demurth, arshile Gorky, Joseph Stella, Ellsworth Kelly, and Jennifer Bartlett. These & many other artists are represented in this magnificent collection, which is accompanied by Ella M. Foshay's lively & scholarly test. Reflections of Nature is a lovely volume that will be a value to artists, art historians, & anyone with an appreciation of american art & the extraordinary beauty found in & around the garden.