Product Description

A dazzling, sensuous celebration of color and form by the photographer whom Architectural Digest described as "the love child of Georgia O'Keeffe and Robert Mapplethorpe."

"When I agreed to write an essay for Beane's book," recounts Anthony F. Janson, esteemed curator and professor, "I had no idea I would be writing about one of the greatest photographers I have ever run across. It was easy enough for me to locate his position in the history of photography and art as a whole. I saw its importance immediately. Such an approach hardly begins to meet the challenge of explaining his work."

With intensity, vision, and expressiveness Christopher Beane captures the beauty, and the bizarre, of the botanical. He concentrates on the overlooked detail: the veins of dehydrated petals, the textures of poppy stamens, the infinite compositions vines create, and the multiple layers that constitute a ranunculus. In 150 photographs, Flower explores the precious and perishable nature of flowers—seed pods burst open, withered leaves curl, and frilly petals unfurl. Anthony F. Janson contributes a rich and engaging overview of the core ideas that define Beane's art, offering the reader a context for thinking about this unique work, while he chronicles its development.

A thing of beauty, Flower is the gift book everyone will welcome—a testament to the remarkable talent of Christopher Beane and his passionate vision.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #39919 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 168 pages

Review
"An oeuvre of amazing range and persuasive charm."
—Elle Decor (Elle Décor )

An oeuvre of amazing range and persuasive charm. Elle Decor (Elle D??cor )

Review
Beane's intensely imaginative photographs both connect us with the rich historical tradition of flower photography and lay the groundwork for its future. —John W. Smith, Director, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institute

From the Inside Flap
"When I agreed to write an essay for Beane's book, at the request of a mutual friend," recounts Anthony F. Janson, noted curator and art historian, "I had no idea I would be writing about one of the greatest photographers I have ever run across. It was easy enough for me to locate his position in the history of photography and art as a whole. I saw its importance immediately. Such an approach hardly begins to meet the challenge of explaining his work."

With intensity and vision, Christopher Beane captures the beauty, and the bizarre, of the botanical. He concentrates on the overlooked detail: the veins of dehydrated petals, the textures of poppy stamens, the infinite compositions vines create, and the multiple layers that constitute a ranunculus. Flowers are one of the most traditional subjects for artwork, yet Beane brings something radically new to his flower photographs, using his unique sensibility to create uncommon art.

In 150 color and black-and-white photographs, Flower explores the precious and perishable—seed pods burst open, withered leaves curl, and frilly petals unfurl. In the accompanying text, Anthny F. Janson chronicles the development of Beane's art, as well as offering descriptions of Bean's core ideas and an essential perspective on this unique work. Janson's overview of the flower in photography and art makes for rich and engaging reading. And Beane's "flower-stories," short bloom-ographies of individual works, provide an opportunity to witness the evolution of Beane's work as understood by the artist himself.

Flower is a thing of beauty—a testament to the remarkable talent of Christopher Beane and his passionate vision

Customer Reviews

Stunning and chic photographic images of flowers
Christopher Beane's collection of flower photography is a breathtakingly beautiful feast for the eyes. Anthony Janson has written insightful text that accompanies the images and masterfully analyzes and explains Beane's artistic perspective. Janson places Beane firmly into the lineage of the history of art through his discussion of the history of painters and photographers who have focused their artistic talents on flowers. A remarkable comparison is the similarity of one of Beane's images to the Greek Nike statue. Janson discusses how Beane has overcome the historic treatment of flowers as a traditionally static still life subject, and given his flowers a dynamic quality that relates more to figurative art than traditional still life compositions. Beane's use of light, his physical manipulation of flowers, and his placement of them against exciting and unexpected backgrounds all contribute to the vibrancy of his compositions. Janson's analysis of how Beane has broken through the boundaries of his traditional art education is an interesting read for any classically trained artist who, through their maturation, manages to develop his or her own unique, signature style. The history of Beane's relationship with flowers through his work in New York City's incredible flower market, his love for and knowledge of flowers, and his development into one of the most remarkable flowers photographers of our time is compelling. This is a beautiful book which serves as a coffee table decoration, while the text raises the book to a level of compelling reading about the nature of an artist who has transcended the ordinary to create something both radically new and classically inspired. Janson challenges the notion that oil painting is a more effective art form than photography because, as the gorgeous reproductions in this book exhibit, Beane has managed time and time again to create extraordinary images that rival some of history's most revered examples of fine art.

An Inspiring Photo-Biography
Christopher Beane's new book, Flower, is a floral autobiography.

Beginning with traditional, abstract, black & white compositions in the 1990s, Beane's early works make reference to a number of noted photographers but also reveal how he developed his own eye for presenting unusual floral shapes and textures.

In the late 1990s, Beane left the b&w world behind and dove head-first into vibrant colour. In the words of Anthony Janson, who narrates the book: "Fortunately, in 1997 Beane began to experiment with color photography."

"Fortunately" is an understatement: right from the first few photographs in Beane's aptly titled "orgy" series, we see a whole new world of color within his macro subjects, and Beane's explorations quickly depart from whatever preconceptions you may have of floral macro photography. Beane's colour work is truly his own: creative and evocative in a manner not as obvious as one usually finds in the sensual photography of pistils and stamens and pretty petals. In his representations you will find more abstract emotion, perhaps evoking flames and mysterious sea creatures... as well as gasp-worthy ultramacro depictions of familiar subjects.

The cover of the Flower is itself a flamelike depiction of tulips; fortunately, an unadorned version can be found inside (plate 40). The book continues through the evolution of his macro photography, with each subject a new step forward for Beane. After mastering a particular motif, Beane deconstructs and reinvents his approach and summons up entirely new perspectives, new ways to infuse form with colour.

While it is impossible not to marvel at the intricacies of his macro subjects, from the Coral Charm Peony (plate 51) to the sensual Bearded Iris Blue (plate 42), his latter work moves forward ever more progressively and ultimately departs the ultramacro realm in the direction of abstract art. Particularly striking to my eye are the Fritillaria (plates 127 and 128) which play with a reduced colour palette in an entirely new way, departing from the natural colours of the flowers themselves but somehow remaining true to them in abstract impression.

In addition to plate after plate of masterful 4x5 colour photography, the reader will find details of Beane's battle with stage-4 lymphoma, how this affected his mood and vision, and how he returned, triumphantly, to his craft. Beane's adventure is inspiring and not only in the visual sense.

I very highly recommend this book. It is truly inspirational and provocative.

A welcome and enthusiastically recommended addition
One of nature's most diverse and artistic creations are the flowers. This is amply documented by the spectacular photography of Christopher Beane as compiled in a coffee table photography book that rises to the timeless level of great art. Each full-page, captioned and visually stunning photograph comprising this remarkable volume showcases an particular flower bloom and could well be framed separately and be mounted upon the wall of an elegant home, a prestigious art gallery, or a premier museum. Enhanced with an informative introductory essay by Anthony Janson, "Flower" is a technical masterpiece of the photographer's art and a memorable homage to the architectural diversity and spectacular wonder of the blooming and colored petals of flowers. "Flower" is a welcome and enthusiastically recommended addition to personal, academic, and community library world-class photography collections.