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Flower | 
 enlarge | Authors: Christopher Beane, Anthony F. Janson
Publisher: Artisan
Category: Book
List Price: $35.00
Buy New: $19.80
You Save: $15.20 (43%)
New (28) Used (11) from $19.80
Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 127005
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 168
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.2
Dimensions (in): 12.1 x 10.4 x 1.1
ISBN: 1579653529
Dewey Decimal Number: 770
EAN: 9781579653521
ASIN: 1579653529
Publication Date: May 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
Voluptuous Insights January 2, 2009
Every once in a long while a book of photographs comes along that provides not just beautiful images, but that makes you stop and think about the nature of photography and vision itself. "Flower" is such a book.
Christopher Beane's images are of beautiful, voluptuous flowers, but from a viewpoint that seems to give a new meaning to the genre. The images, taken in close-up, are curvy and saturated. They are almost abstract, like modernist paintings designed not to show us the flower but the nature of color and form itself. They seem closest to the works of Georgia O'Keefe, but they are not derivative. Rather they head in a new direction.
The text, provided by Anthony F. Janson, says that Beane is a deconstructionist. One might take that as a term of art criticism, but I chose to give it a more literal meaning. In many of his pictures the photographer has actually taken the flowers apart and dissected them so that we see the parts of several flowers intertwined and yet capturing some essence of the flower. Over time, Beane has developed his art, first taking pictures with backgrounds of black and then with marbleized paper and then with Venetian glass. Sometimes the backgrounds blend perfectly with the petals so that it is difficult to tell where the flower ends and the background begins. At other times the background seems at a distance from the flower. There are even murals that combine several related pictures, with a strong flavor of classical Japanese art.
Although post-modernist photographers often construct the images they photograph, assembling subjects has long been a technique of still-life photographers so that Beane cannot be considered in the former camp. Instead, he is more like modernist painters who sought to show us the nature of form and color by removing the subject from the image. Only, the subject is not removed from the image here. Instead, it is viewed from closer than we are used to and lit in unaccustomed ways, to illuminate (and that's not a tautology here) the essence of the subject.
I am reluctant to say that any artist has captured something new. The text suggests that Beane is in the tradition of Mapplethorpe and Araki, but if he is, he has carried his flower photography many steps beyond their work. I thought of comparing his work to several other flower photographers but ultimately found him in a class of his own.
In most works of this type, the text seems to be a gratuitous add-on. Janson, however, truly helps to explicate these works, as might be expected from a man who is the co-author, with his father, of one of the great explorations of art.
Photographers have much to learn from Beane's work, not the least, that no genre has reached the end of possibilities. Moreover, Beane's work reveals that it possible to continue varying one's work, and exploring new ways to see.
Well worth ordering! August 5, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you love beautiful and unique photos of flowers, then this is the book for you. I purchased it for inspiration as I am an amateur photographer and believe me, I am inspired!!!! You won't be disappointed.
Beauty in the Flowers July 14, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This pictorial book is totally outstanding in it's presentation of a perfectionists view of many beautific flowers. Just stunning!
Beautiful Flower May 31, 2008
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
We just finished our first reading and viewing of Christopher Beane's "Flower". What a beautiful prose and photography volume this is.
The essay reads with warmth, knowledge, and critical praise for the photographic plates that adorn the book, not to mention the affection communicated for the photographer and his professional development. The author's grasp of the essence of art history including photography builds a firm foundation for the complex interpretations and lucid explanations he provides.
The crowning elements of the book are, of course, the photographic plates. Grouped by Christopher's evolving periods and changing forms of expression, many of the plates will evoke a gasp, a sigh, a tear, or a smile upon turning the page. One in particular caught my eye, Plate 112, Bloomed Clemantis, as appearing almost human in the blossoms struggle against the wind. The author, we later found, also saw that strength and aligned that with Christopher's own strength in dealing with his health issues over the past two years.
We highly recommend the book to anyone interested in art, photography, or life, since the essay and the plates create a valuable life story of strength and beauty.
Proud Parents May 24, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
A disclaimer up front - Christopher Beane is our son!
For over 40 years we have watched Christopher grow and develop - both as an extraordinary human being and as an exceptionally talented artist. His creativity has always been evident - whether in the things young kids make in school; in his water colored paintings; as he advised his mother how to decorate our home; in his landscaping of our yard; through his intriguing work during freshman year in the Rhode Island School of Design's challenging one, two and three dimention design studios; and finally, as his photographic career has evolved the past fifteen years.
But, as parents, perhaps we are most proud of how he battled near fatal cancer, diagnosed just three years ago, including the eight months Christopher spent in New York City's Mount Sinai Hospital. He never lost his will to live. And with his engaging personality he brought out love and support from all those around him.
Perhaps the greatest fear Christopher had during his long illness was that his talent might somehow desert him. As all can see this concern has been fully relieved and his newest work exibits both continued artistic growth and his amazing creativity.
Some thoughts from Christopher's proud parents Rosemary & Frank Beane
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