Chihuly at Kew: Reflections on Nature

Artworks by Dale Chihuly. Essay by Tim Richardson. 120pp. 100 colour photographs. 280 x 242 mm. Hardback ISBN 978 1 84246 682 7, Kew Publishing 2019.

Chihuly at Kew: Reflections on Nature is a celebration of the work of iconic artist Dale Chihuly. This book accompanied an exhibition at Kew Gardens in 2019.

The book showcases these utterly unique glass artworks across one of London’s most spectacular landscapes, in a perfect marriage of art, science, and nature. Stunning photography depicts the dazzling art installations situated across the Gardens, set within the landscape as well as in glasshouses and in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art.

Highlights include the Drawings and Rotolo series, the most technically challenging work Chihuly has ever created, as well as Seaforms; undulating forms that conjure underwater life, and a specially designed sculpture suspended from the ceiling of the newly restored Temperate House.

An introductory essay by Tim Richardson will accompany the artworks, along with artists’ chronology and biography.

I am honoured to bring my work once again to Kew, with its magnificent landscape and extraordinary glasshouses - structures which have always captivated me. How do you describe a beautiful building like the Palm House or the Temperate House? We are planning something special for the centre of the newly-restored Temperate House and I’m excited to see it come to fruition. Dale Chihuly

Chihuly at Kew: Reflections on Nature at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 13 April – 27 October 2019

Dale Chihuly is known for revolutionising the Studio Glass movement and elevating perceptions of glass. Over his 50-year career, he has become known for his iconic glass sculptures, but glass is just one of the media he employs to realise his vision; he also draws, paints, and creates installations using other materials. Chihuly is renowned for his ambitious architectural installations around the world, in historic cities, museums and gardens. His work is included in more than 200 museum collections worldwide including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Corning Museum of Glass. Major exhibitions include Chihuly Over Venice (1995-96); Chihuly in the Light of Jerusalem (1999); de Young Museum in San Francisco (2008); the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2011); Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond (2012); the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada (2013); the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada (2016); and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas (2017). In addition, Chihuly Garden and Glass, a long-term exhibition, opened at Seattle Center in 2012. Previous Chihuly books include Chihuly (Prestel, 2017), Chihuly on Fire (Chihuly Workshop, 2016), Chihuly Garden Installations (Abrams Books, 2011) and Chihuly at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Portland Press, 2005).

Tim Richardson is an internationally respected landscape critic. He is a former landscape editor at Wallpaper, gardens editor at Country Life and founding editor of New Eden magazine. He is a contributing author on Chihuly Garden Installations (Abrams Books, 2011) and is the author of several books on gardens, including Great Gardens of America (Frances Lincoln, 2009), Avant Gardeners (Thames and Hudson, 2009), The Arcadian Friends (Bantam, 2007), and Sweets: A History of Temptation (Bantam, 2002).

*For international orders: if you purchase other items with this book, we will not ship your order until this book has arrived.