Sean Sexton Robert, Flynn Johnson: The Plant Kingdoms of Charles Jones

First published in 1998, The Plant Kingdoms of Charles Jones is an exquisite visual feast for anyone who draws delight from the riches of nature.

The images have a wider significance in the history of photography and of the still-life genre in general, as explained in the book’s introduction by Robert Flynn Johnson.

It presents more than 100 photographs of vegetables, fruits and flowers, all taken by the same photographer at around the turn of the 20th century, and all set against neutral, dark or light backgrounds in the style of formal studio ‘portraits’.

For a contemporary audience, the photographs’ simple and unembellished beauty is the perfect antidote to appetites jaded by processed foods and 21st-century artifice. They communicate and inspire a loving respect for the beauty in nature.