MARIA DUARTE picks the best and worst of a crowded year of films
Flowers that will not fade
This lavish book transcends the botanical by discussing the flowers’ social, historical and symbolic significance, writes CHRISTINE LINDEY
(L to R) Albrecht Durer, Tuft of Cowslips or Primula (1526); Anonymous, gold ornaments, c2300–2100 BC; Mary Cassat, Lilacs in a Window of 1880-83 and (bottom middle) Pierre-Joseph Redoute, Amaryllis josephina from Les Liliacees, 1802–16
JOSEPHINE BARBARO welcomes a diverse anthology of experiences by autistic women that amounts to a resounding chorus, demanding to be heard
PAUL BUHLE recommends an eminently useful book that examines the political opportunities for popular anti-fascist intervention
PETER MASON is entertained by the autobiography of Charlie Harper, one of punk’s most enduring figures
JAMIE BRITTON reaches for the sick bucket as he is forced to engorge detail after detail of the Royal Family’s wealth
STEVE JOHNSON picks his favourites from the many memorable albums of the year, and one stunning new festival
Flower: Exploring the World in Bloom,
by Anna Pavord,
Phaidon Press
£39.95
AT 350 pages this large format book offers beautiful, full-page illustrations of a vast variety of flowers accompanied by useful information about each one.
A stimulating introduction discusses their social, historical and symbolic significance.
Unlike most botanical books it also functions as an art book with illustrations which range far and wide across time, cultures and types of objects. A gilded Sevres porcelain plate destined for the 19th-century courts of Europe is ornately hand painted with a central bouquet of flowers surrounded by butterflies, bows and scrolls.
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