I really enjoyed these illustrations. It was interesting to see the many different types of mushroom illustrations that were done over time.

𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐈 𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖
𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: Mushroom Botanical Art
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬: Toshimitsu Fukiharu
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Arts & Photography
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

𝐆𝐔𝐒𝐇:
• A gorgeous collection of mushroom and fungi illustrations with information on certain mushrooms. The art style is delicate and intricate and I love it.
• This book can also serve as a beautiful resource or reference/art book.
• Perfect for anyone interested in art, botany, and nature.
• Would be a great coffee table book.

𝐆𝐑𝐈𝐏𝐄:
• The art can appear repetitive as it primarily focuses on fungi (especially if you're not a fan of fungi)

𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫: people interested in botany, nature, and art

Thank you to @NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 𝐌𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠: 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐣𝐨𝐲.𝐜𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Mushroom Botanical Art by Toshimitsu Fukiharu is a stunning collection of about 2o0 pieces of mushroom art from the 18th to 19th century. The paintings are both aesthetically pleasing, as well as performing a valid scientific practice. At the time, scientists used these mushroom paintings in order to classify and categorize mushrooms and other fungi. I love the intersection between art and science in this book.

Here is an excerpt by the author in the Introduction:

"They are all highly individualistic and unique, and one cannot help but sense the passion of those involved in their production. In the illustrations of mushrooms in section... the half-cut figures charmingly appear to adopt an elegant pose toward the viewer... The beauty of the illustrations shines forth even more brightly."

Overall, I greatly enjoyed admiring this unique collection of mushroom art. Both the European artists and the Japanese artists did an excellent job depicting what they saw. The ones that I admired most of all were the full-color illustrations of mushrooms that were painted using shimmery reds and natural hues. Some of the mushrooms looked like umbrellas. Some of them looked like houses. After reading this book, I now understand why so many fairy tale illustrations include mushrooms in them. Mushrooms are truly magical. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of art in general, you won't regret checking out this book when it comes out in November!

Stunning collection of mushroom art. I just scrolled through the whole book and felt so calm, looking at all the different types of mushrooms. Having lived through the rainyest summer in the history of ever, mushrooms are everywhere right now and I'll sure have an eye out for them on my next woodland walk! I especially loved the Japanese art in the last part of the book. So different in style but similar at the same time. Needless to say, I had to have shroom filled pancakes for dinner;)

An absolutely gorgeous collection of international mushroom drawings. I can only imagine how beautiful it'll be in print! I enjoyed comparing the illustration styles, the use of color and tried putting this into the artistic context of the time when the drawings were created. This is going to be a prized possession of very mushroom and nature illustration lover that comes across this book!

Stunning artwork and wonderful drawings! Very interesting to see so many types of mushrooms that I had never seen before.

I wanted to read/look through this book as soon as I saw the title. I quite enjoyed the collection of art, I saw several pieces I’d love to frame. My favorite part had to be Minakata’s mycological illustrations towards the end of the book. These were stunning. It’s great that each section gave a bit of history and information about the person researching and illustrating as well.

As a lover of old botanical art, this book cover jumped out at me when I saw it. It contains mushroom art from the 18th and 19th century and gives a bit of an background of their painters. I loved flipping through it, learning about mushrooms and historic botanical art at the same time.
I feel though there are more beautiful illustrations out there, a lot of them felt very similar.
But any mushroom lover will appreciate this book for sure.

I thank Netgalley for an ARC to read and review.

Stunning artwork of a vast variety of mushrooms. Delicate, intricate, informative. Lots to learn and lovely illustrations.

A book with beautiful illustrations and very useful for references for any artist. I enjoyed it a lot!

I've long been a mushroom enthusiast. I like the way mushrooms appear in pop culture and pop art, whether it's a toadstool platform in a video game or a painting of a fairy ring. Even realistic-looking renderings are usually attractive to me. But I didn't really enjoy this book. The colors seemed a little too muted for the drawings to be very interesting. I guess really this book just isn't what I expected.

This curated books about fungi are a delight for the eye and for the mind. It made me even more curious about mushrooms, finding online which are edible or not in the illustrated fungi.

On the other hand, the homage by the author to the predecessors who recorded their findings with patience, creativity, hard work, and faithfulness to their crafts are inspiring and worth emulating.

At first, I thought I could learn as well about the edible and poisonous mushrooms. There are no description except the introduction of each collection and the scientific names of each fungus, so I'm a bit lost. But as I read on, I realize this is meant for scholars and enthusiast alike who know more about the world of fungi. For those who are interested and wanted to know more about mushrooms, this is a good introductory book as it is visually appealing.

Contents:
In the book there are collections of mushroom pictures by various naturalists. They include works from the 18th and 19th centuries and show very different mushrooms in various states. Some of the mushrooms are cut in half so you can see what they look like from the inside. Others are depicted as they grow in nature.

Opinion:
A beautiful book for artists and mushroom lovers. The illustrations are all lovingly done with lots of detail and in my opinion, are a great source of inspiration to paint a new picture. Most of the illustrations are in color. Some of them are shown as drawings in the book.

Conclusion:
A great and very comprehensive book, for artists looking for a source of inspiration. Therefore, I am only too happy to give it 5 out of 5 stars.

I loved the various artistic approaches in depicting the fungus. It was colorful, beautiful, and I was looking forward to the wide variety displayed. I appreciated the information before each section, but I'd have liked more description about each mushroom. It is more of a showcase of art than an informative book, but it is still a worthwhile read.

Absolutely stunning collection of historical mushroom illustrations. The illustrations are carefully curated, featuring artists from different time priods from all over the world. Each botanical illustrator is introduced, we're given an overview of their work and their contribution to mycology, as well as which mediums they have worked in. However, don't go into this book expecting detailed information about the depicted mushrooms, since this is only an art book, all the information is strictly about the artists. The design of the book is great, the illustrations are really high quality, this book would be a wonderful gift to a mycologist and artist alike.

This is a beautiful book featuring collected pieces of artwork from black and white to full color. I thoroughly enjoyed each illustration and the care the author put into the curation of this collection, including a small introduction into each collection's origin book, I enjoyed the excerpt included from Battarra the most. I expected classic toadstool varieties, but the author also included lesser known shapes that resembled eggs, horns, and coral. This book could be utilized for science or art as reference, or just enjoyed by the casual botanical enthusiast. This book was provided to me in return for an honest review.

Thank you to the author, publisher, designers, and NetGalley for the chance to provide some honest feedback for this publication. Going in, I didn't know much about the subject matter. Despite this fact, I found the book to be a great mix of visually appealing illustrations/graphics and knowledge. I believe that this book is good for a range of readers, including those who just have budding interest to those more keen. Additionally, what sets this book apart from others like it is its graphic appeal. The cover is brilliant -- modern, minimal but interesting. The rest of the book follows suit. I loved this read.

An incredible timeline of people’s curiosity concerning mushrooms! Packed with delicate and vibrant illustrations from the 18th and 19th century, this is a book that mycologists, enthusiasts and artists alike will appreciate. I enjoyed reading the bite sized biographies of those who brought this art to light; particularly that of Kumagusu Minakata, who researched mushrooms throughout Japan, the US and UK, leaving thousands of drawings and information behind. A treasure trove of natural history. Thank you NetGalley!

Toshimitsu Fukiharu guides us through various artists' works of mushroom botanical art throughout history. We learn about the artists across the globe from England to Japan who document their native mushrooms. Through a professional lens, we see how these artists choose to identify and differentiate the mushrooms as well as the scientific regard and importance of each fungi presented.

Beautiful collection of vintage prints. I like that there was context provided for the impact certain series of prints had historically. Ultimately, this is more of a coffee table book than a treatise on botanical art.