Botanica Magnifica: Portraits of the World's Most Extraordinary Flowers and Plants (Natural History) - Hardcover

Jonathan Singer’s double-elephant folio of Botanica Magnifica is kept in the Cullman Rare Book Room at the Smithsonian Institution Libraries. Dr. Singer was named a Hasselblad Laureate Award winner (2008) and Carl Linnaeus Silver Medalist from the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences (2009) based on his contribution marrying art with science, and to “our perception and appreciation of the botanical world.” His many achievements include his appointment as Research Collaborator, Department of Botany, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

W. John Kress is a Curator of Botany and Research Scientist at the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution. He is the author of Abbeville’s The Weeping Goldsmith: Discoveries in the Secret Land of Myanmar and has written many articles on botany.

Marc Hachadourian is the Acting Manager of the Nolen Greenhouses for the New York Botanical Garden. He specializes in orchids, aquatics, bulbs, and alpines and is particularly interested in public awareness of global plant conservation and the appreciation of plant biodiversity.

Excerpt from Botanica Magnifica:

PREFACE

What will be the role of the photographic artist in the natural sciences for the rest of the twenty-first century? Is it possible for an artist’s vision to complement scientific exploration? With every leap forward of technology and exploration, I have observed that the boundaries of science and art intersect. While it is the role of science to quantify and verify the new frontier, it is the artist who leads us into the unknown, illuminating nature from the shadows and revealing its wonders.

From the first cave artists who documented scenes of the hunt to the painters and photographers who accompanied the opening of the American West, it has often been the artist who embraces new technology, bringing to light the never-before seen. Innovative American artists specializing in the natural sciences have included John James Audubon, George Catlin, and Ansel Adams. It is my hope that Botanica Magnifica will also contribute to a deeper understanding of nature, as the works of these artists did in their time.

What makes my botanical photographs so different? With my photographs I try to transcend the medium and see the subject itself. My aim is to make the viewer forget he or she is looking at a photograph and begin a deeper journey into the botanical world. Just as some painters attempt to make their brushstrokes (hence their presence) invisible, I attempt to photograph my subjects with clarity and humility. The resulting images seem to strike an inner chord and resonate with unexpected emotion.

The limited, original edition of Botanica Magnifica, consisting of five hand-bound volumes, was donated to the Smithsonian Institution. The extra-large “double-elephant” format of that edition was chosen in homage to the famous double-elephant folio of Audubon’s Birds of America, and indeed, Botanica Magnifica is one of the few works of natural history ever to rival Audubon’s magnum opus in its scope and artistry. Thus, Botanica Magnifica is at home both on the walls of art museums and shelved with reference books in scientific libraries for generations to come—hence the fusion of art and science.

I have had the privilege of working with two accomplished botanists—W. John Kress from the Smithsonian Institution and Marc Hachadourian at the New York Botanical Garden—without whose help Botanica would not have been started. They provide the scientific and anecdotal accounts of the unusual plants and flowers presented in these pages.

Dr. Kress has explored the world’s rain forests and has seen their destruction. That ongoing annihilation of these precious resources is why we have chosen to marry art with science in a unique way that compels us all to look again at our global ecosystems before there is nothing more to see. Maybe because of my images, people will rally to take action against the destruction of habitats. The question is how. I believe the answer lies with the great scientific institutions of the world coming together. With my efforts in both Botanica Magnifica and Tulipae Hortorum (residing in the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm), it is my aim to provide the art that will help the science understand the urgency to conserve the world’s biodiversity. That is my life’s mission.

— Jonathan M. Singer