The Wall of Birds: One Planet, 243 Families, 375 Million Years
by Jane Kim, with Thayer Walker
From Harper Design:
A celebration of the diversity and evolution of birds, as depicted in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s magnificent 2,500-square-foot Wall of Birds mural by artist Jane Kim.
Part homage, part artistic and sociological journey, The Wall of Birds tells the story of birds’ remarkable 375-million-year evolution. With a foreword by John W. Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and full of lush photographs of gorgeous life-size birds painted in exacting detail, The Wall of Birds lets readers explore these amazing creatures family by family and continent by continent. Throughout, beautifully crafted narratives and intimate artistic reflections tell of the evolutionary forces that created birds’ dazzling variety of forms and colors, and reveal powerful lessons about birds that are surprisingly relevant to contemporary human challenges.
From the tiny five-inch Marvelous Spatuletail hummingbird to the monstrous thirty-foot Yutyrannus, The Wall of Birds is a visual feast, essential for bird enthusiasts, naturalists, and art lovers alike.
The Wall of Birds, the work of art, is a huge mural adorning a wall at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. It’s breathtaking. Well, I’ve never seen it in person, but the foldout in this book showing the entire wall in all its glory is arresting. (I can’t imagine how amazing the actual wall is.) The Wall of Birds, the book, is part art gallery, showing each of the wall’s birds in close detail, part natural history, and part art critique, with the artist providing insight into the artistic process. It’s a surprising combination, but it works.
The Wall of Birds: One Planet, 243 Families, 375 Million Years
by Jane Kim, with Thayer Walker
Hardcover; 224 pages
Harper Design; October 23, 2018
ISBN: 9780062687869
$45.00
Buy from NHBS
(based in the U.K.)
Posted by Grant McCreary on October 29th, 2018.
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