The Webster Family Library supports the academic, clinical and research activities of the students and faculty of the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. The primary focus of the library’s collection is clinical veterinary medicine with supporting materials in conservation, wildlife and the basic sciences.
Botanical Revolutions
by
Giovanni Aloi
This groundbreaking volume unearths the representation of plants and their vital impact on art, thereby advocating for the botanical world's legitimate place in art history. Desired for their aesthetic beauty, sought after for their medicinal properties, harvested for their scents and flavors, or grown as essential material resources, plants are indissolubly entwined with our existence. In art it is no different: plants have played a critical role. Yet despite their significant material and conceptual contributions, plants have been sidelined in the commentary of art historians and critics. Botanical Revolutions presents a global history of plants in art, focusing on the crucial moments that signaled the formation of new movements and styles, as well as the creation of media that could not have occurred without the involvement of and interaction with the vegetal world. In this fascinating and beautifully illustrated book, author Giovanni Aloi delves deeply into the history and representation of plants in art, advocates for a change in our relationship with the botanical world, and presents an alternative history of art that foregrounds the truly indispensable contributions of plants.
Hilma Af Klint: What Stands Behind the Flowers
by
Hilma af Klint (Artist); Jodi Hauptman (Editor); Ewa Lajer-Burcharth (Text by); Laura Neufeld (Text by); Lena Struwe (Text by)
A close look at a portfolio of forty-six botanical drawings by Hilma af Klint, and the abstract diagrams the artist developed to express the interconnectedness of the natural and spiritual realms. "I have shown," wrote the Swedish artist Hilma af Klint, "that there is a connection between the plant world and the world of the soul." Her Nature Studies portfolio (1919-20), recently acquired by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, comprises 46 sheets of exquisitely rendered botanical drawings. Documenting each plant's particular qualities along with Latin names, Swedish common names, and dates of observation, af Klint follows the typical format of a botanical reference book, known as a Flora; however, hers is a Flora of the spirit, a mapping of the natural world in spiritual terms that would stand alongside any scientific resource. Carefully drawn and vividly colored plants, flowers, and lichen are juxtaposed with geometric forms: a blooming sunflower is echoed by three nested circles, a central dot, a solid red line, a ring of points; a white narcissus is set against a pinwheel of softened primary hues; a cluster of budding branches is accompanied by checkerboard boxes of dots and stroke. Published in conjunction with the first exhibition of the rare portfolio, Hilma af Klint: What Stands Behind the Flowers presents the 46 botanical drawings alongside contextualizing works, as well as translations of her notes and previously unpublished texts from her own journals. An overview essay by curator Jodi Hauptman examines af Klint's strong connection to the natural and spiritual realms; texts by Ewa Lajer-Burcharth, Lena Struwe, and Laura Neufeld unpack the inspiration, imagery, and beliefs behind these drawings.
Call Number: SMFA
How Far the Light Reaches
by
Sabrina Imbler
A fascinating tour of creatures from the surface to the deepest ocean floor: this "miraculous, transcendental book" invites us to envision wilder, grander, and more abundant possibilities for the way we live (Ed Yong, author of An Immense World). A queer, mixed race writer working in a largely white, male field, science and conservation journalist Sabrina Imbler has always been drawn to the mystery of life in the sea, and particularly to creatures living in hostile or remote environments. Each essay in their debut collection profiles one such creature, including: ·the mother octopus who starves herself while watching over her eggs, ·the Chinese sturgeon whose migration route has been decimated by pollution and dams, ·the bizarre, predatory Bobbitt worm (named after Lorena), ·the common goldfish that flourishes in the wild, ·and more. Imbler discovers that some of the most radical models of family, community, and care can be found in the sea, from gelatinous chains that are both individual organisms and colonies of clones to deep-sea crabs that have no need for the sun, nourished instead by the chemicals and heat throbbing from the core of the Earth. Exploring themes of adaptation, survival, sexuality, and care, and weaving the wonders of marine biology with stories of their own family, relationships, and coming of age, How Far the Light Reaches is a shimmering, otherworldly debut that attunes us to new visions of our world and its miracles. WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE in SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award One of TIME's 10 Best Nonfiction Books of the Year * A PEOPLE Best New Book * A Barnes & Noble and SHELF AWARENESS Best Book of 2022 * An Indie Next Pick * One of Winter's Most Eagerly Anticipated Books: VANITY FAIR, VULTURE, BOOKRIOT
Mariposas Nocturnas
by
Emmet Gowin; Terry Tempest Williams (Foreword by)
A stunning portrait of the nocturnal moths of Central and South America by famed American photographer Emmet Gowin American photographer Emmet Gowin (b. 1941) is best known for his portraits of his wife, Edith, and their family, as well as for his images documenting the impact of human activity upon landscapes around the world. For the past fifteen years, he has been engaged in an equally profound project on a different scale, capturing the exquisite beauty of more than one thousand species of nocturnal moths in Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, French Guiana, and Panama. These stunning color portraits present the insects--many of which may never have been photographed as living specimens before, and some of which may not be seen again--arrayed in typologies of twenty-five per sheet. The moths are photographed alive, in natural positions and postures, and set against a variety of backgrounds taken from the natural world and images from art history. Throughout Gowin's distinguished career, his work has addressed urgent concerns.
Call Number: SMFA Oversize: R729.I6 G69 2017
Natural Wonders
by
S. Ramljak
"Accompanying an exhibition of the same name, 'Natural Wonders' showcases the work of thirteen celebrated American artists who offer multimedia representations of the natural world and the impact of human intervention, revealing fresh and evolving guises of sublimity for the twenty-first century. 'Natural Wonders' spotlights works by Maya Lin, Roxy Pain, Diana Thater, Dustin Yellin, and others, that probe the porous border between the natural and artificial realms -- between the wild and cultivated. This timely and relevant exhibitino at the Brandywine River Museum of Art in Chadds Ford, PA, highlights nature's splendor while at the same time hinting at its more disquieting facets. Through an engaging mix of installations, video, dioramas, photography, and sculpture, the works create an experience of the neo-sublime, mixing the beautiful and the unsettling to produce awe in the beholder. Ultimately this assemblage encourages us to be more attentive to our natural surroundings, in both their benign and baneful aspects. These enticing works also address pressing issues such as habitat loss, environmental toxins, bioengineering, and increasing alienation from nature, offering both diagnosis and prescription for our cultural condition. The books introductory essays provides a broad cultural and historical context for the contemporary work, complemented by statements from the exhibited artists and a reflective dialogue between environmentally minded artists Mark Dion and Alexis Rockman." --publisher's description, dust jacket.
Science/Fiction: a Non-History of Plants
by
Clothilde Morette (Editor); Felix Hoffmann (Text by); Michael Marder (Text by); Natsumi Tanaka (Text by); Victoria Aresheva (Editor); Giovanni Aloi (Text by); Emmanuel Bacquet (Text by); Simon Baker (Text by)
Photographers from Anna Atkins to Jochen Lempert illustrate our fascination with plants in the age of technology From scientific discoveries to animist beliefs, plants are an inexhaustible source of stories that reveal our most intimate desires and fears. Photography is the primary witness to his phenomenon. Science/Fiction questions human projections and representations of the vegetal world, bringing to light the subjectivity, intelligence and expressive abilities of plants. The publication traces a visual history of plants, linking art, technology and science from the mid-19th century to the present day through two conceptual frameworks: scientific and fictional. Bringing together more than 30 artists across different periods of time and parts of the world, it employs the logic of the science fiction novel, taking us from a stable, identifiable world and gradually plunging us into uncertain landscapes. Artists include: Anna Atkins, Karl Blossfeldt, Elspeth Diederix, Sam Falls, Joan Fontcuberta, Stephen Gill, Jochen Lempert, Angelica Mesiti, Agnieszka Polska, Anais Tondeur.
Call Number: SMFA: N7680 .S35 2024
Seeds of Knowledge
by
Michael Jakob (Editor)
A gorgeous compendium of printed herbals describing medicinal plants and their uses With sumptuous reproductions, Seeds of Knowledge highlights the extraordinary collection of 15th- to 17th-century European printed herbals of the contemporary Liechtenstein collector Peter Goop. Herbals were highly illustrated books that included both the folkloric and medicinal uses of plants, and were critical texts for doctors and lay caregivers. The text and illustrations were repeatedly refined as the medicinal benefits of a plant's use were more clearly understood and the style of illustration tended toward higher degrees of naturalism. These books were working manuals and frequently annotated by readers with notes of herbal recipes/medicines or other uses not found in the printed text. Goop's collection is one of the most extensive in private hands. Using the Morgan's 10th-century manuscript of Dioscurides' De materia medica as a centerpiece, Seeds of Knowledge explores developments in the understanding of the healthful and healing properties of plants, as Europe moved away from medicinal folklore toward an increased understanding of the natural world.
Call Number: SMFA: QK14.5 .S44 2023
Walton Ford Pancha Tantra
by
Bill Buford; Walton Ford (Artist)
"This book features a natural selection: Ford's beautifully savage beasts and birds. Walton Ford's watercolors of animals could be mistaken for 19th century natural science illustrations or British colonial paintings. Except they're not. Something strange and usually sinister is happening in each of Ford's works, whether it's a wild turkey crushing a small parrot with its claw, a collection of monkeys wreaking havoc on a formally set dinner table, or an American buffalo surrounded by a pack of bloodied white wolves ... in the middle of a proper French garden. Painted with the deft technique of a technical artist, Ford's works vibrate with an intensity of uncanny familiarity; they are both reassuring in style and disturbing in content. With titles like Au Revoir Zaire, Necropolis, and Dirty Dick Burton's Aide de Camp, and Space Monkey, his paintings open the doors to a world of real-life fantasy, dreams, and nightmares - all with a stunning candor that almost belies the artist's intentions. Collected together for the first time as a limited-edition book, and now available as a popular edition, Ford's bestiary takes its name from one of the texts he frequently refers back to in his work: The Pancha Tantra, the ancient Indian book of animal fables collected from 3rd-5th Centuries B.C. and considered to be the precursor to Aesop's Fables. This book provides an in-depth exploration of Walton Ford's oeuvre. It also includes a complete professional biography as well as substantial excerpts from the textual sources for the paintings, from Vietnamese folktales and the letters of Benjamin Franklin to the Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini and John James Audubon's Ornithological Biography." [Publisher's statement].