REFERENCE

Capturing Nature: 150 Years of Nature Printing

Princeton Architectural. Apr. 2023. 360p. ISBN 9781797222462. $100. REF
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This vivid work is for nature lovers, botanists, scholars, and artists. In one visually compelling package, readers are treated to a combination of art, nature, and history, along with a detailed bibliography and index. The history part of this guide details the evolution of nature printing, which started in the mid-18th century and was first patented in Vienna. As Zucker (Dieter Roth in Print) and Swedish researcher/designer/printmaker Östlund explain, nature printing is the process of producing images by utilizing impressions from the surfaces of natural objects, such as plants and rocks. As an art form, nature printing created an explosion in artistic techniques. This book gives detailed descriptions of 45 techniques readers can use to capture nature images and create art. Zucker is known for taking decades to curate an extensive collection of more than 13,000 nature print images. Readers are treated to some of those rare images, which come from 130 journals, books, and other texts. In fact, many here are from Zucker’s collection.
VERDICT Some of the pictures detract from the overall value of the images, but this is still an essential purchase for all libraries that support an active fine arts program.
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