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Jonathan SingerTo see the photographic images of Botanica Magnifica is to transcend the medium and see the subject itself.

Just as the finest classical painter attempted to make his brush stroke invisible, I attempt to capture these botanical specimens with a clarity and humility becoming an instrument serving a higher force.

Many of the most unusual species seen in Botanica  Magnifica seem to be alien life forms but really are true treasures of our home planet.

As an artist, I capture the mystical energy that lies below the surface of the natural world. In the end we see not the infinite diversity of life, but rather we steal a glimpse into creation itself.

Many of the most unusual species seen in Botanica  Magnifica seem to be alien life forms but really are true treasures of our home planet.  As an artist, I capture the mystical energy that lies below the surface of the natural world.  In the end we see not the infinite diversity of life, but rather we steal a glimpse into creation itself.

Attended Southampton College in 1966 and for fifteen years Jonathan studied with the famed Russian/American Neo-Plasticist painter, Ilya Bolotowsky (1907-1981). At Bolotowsky’s insistence, Singer studied the Dutch Masters and was further personally introduced to Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), himself a contemporary Dutch Master.  It was during his time with Bolotowsky and de Kooning that he absorbed these artists’ wisdom and teachings to eventually shape his own style and earn the appellation ‘Master of Light’ – given to him by Eileen O. Ford (Ford Models)

Memorized almost everything that Ansel Adams wrote on the subject of photography. There were remarkable concepts in his words.  However, Jonathan did not copy Adams’ shooting style like most other Adams disciples; rather Jonathan was inspired by Ansel Adams’ way of thinking.

Like Adams, Jonathan considers his lighting and composition carefully, executing the photograph in only one take. He has one chance to capture and portray the emotion of the moment. Singer’s intuition and his ability to act on it, sets Jonathan’s work above and apart from most photographers, who typically shoot hundreds of photos and select a few for their final product. The Singer style is uniquely his own.

Over the years Jonathan has spoken with Ansel Adams, taken courses with Fred Picker and more recently spoken to George DeWolfe, a former Ansel Adams and Minor White assistant.  Mr. DeWolfe called Jonathan to congratulate him and remarked that Singer had found his ‘own voice’ with the uniqueness and beauty of his new form of color photographic expression.

Appointments

  • Research Collaborator, Department of Botany, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
  • Consulting Photographer LasCruses Biological Station and Wilson Botanical Garden, Costa Rica

Credits

  • Consulting Photographer, United Sates National Arboretum, Washington, DC
  • Contributing Photographer to the United States Botanical Garden, Washington, DC
  • Contributing Photographer to the HASSELBLAD MANUAL 7th Editon, by Ernst Wildi
  • First person to create a traditionally bound double elephant folio since James Audubon’s, ‘Birds     of America’ almost  200 years ago
  • First American photographer-artist to speak and have a handmade book accepted in the Swedish Royal Academy of Science
  • Guest lecturer in photography, NY University, Tisch School of the Arts

Awards

  • Hasselblad Prize Laureate
  • 2009 Carl Linnaeus Silver Medalist for merging art and science from the Swedish Royal Acedemy of Science.

Museum Collections

  • Botanica Magnifica, in Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Washington, DC
  • Tulipae Hortorum, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (KVA), Stockholm, Sweden
  • Huntington Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, Californnia

Contact

Web site: www.BotanicaMagnifica.com

Publisher: Abbeville Press, New York City &  London

Gallery: THROCKMORTON FINE ART, NY