Book Review
By Thomas J.
I thought I would pick up where I left off
last month, by doing a book review on The Best Bonsai
in Europe #4. This is a hard copy edition with nothing
but pictures of some of the best bonsai in Europe,
and certainly in the world also. This book rivals the
famous Kokufu and Taikanten books, but with a price
tag that makes it affordable for almost any bonsai
enthusiast.
The picture quality is supreme. By that
I mean each picture seems to reach out and grab the
viewer in an almost fluorescent manner.
Let me show
you a few examples of some of the quality of the trees
used in this picture book. Take for example these two
pictures of the same species of tree known as Chamaecyparis
obtusa found on pages 16 and 53.
In my opinion these two pictures show the epotime
of a miniature tree.
Notice the root flare on the one, and the huge branch
spread and trunk, all in proportion with each other,
on the second one. Sort of takes your breath away doesn't
it?
On page 22 you'll see a picture of a Pinus Sylvestris
matched up with the perfect pot to compliment it. But
what I would also like to point out is the jin protruding
out from the left side. To me this is the perfect highlight
to the whole tree, as it counter balances the tree
perfectly from its rightward leaning position.
Page 32 shows what appears to be a classic picture
of the chinese penjing style of bonsai. Now whether
the artist is calling it that style, I'm not sure,
but it has the classic look of the clip and grow method
which is highly taught in chinese penjing, and of course
the very radical movement of the twisted trunk also.
And how's this for a forest in miniature. It almost
makes you want to go out and start work on your own
forest. Again the perfect pot was used for this bonsai.
Since a slab was not used, the artist knew that a very
shallow pot would be the perfect choice for this bonsai.
And finally, the last few pages are filled with many
thumbnail sized pictures of bonsai, some shohin bonsai,
and even some great pictures of suiseki. A great
finale to a great bonsai picture book.
Something
else to make note of, is that each page has the artists
name and country beside each picture, and in most cases,
the origin of the pot also.
Dallas Bonsai Gardens now
carries this wonderful bonsai picture book in volumes
1 thru 4.
Here is the link: http://www.dallasbonsai.com/store/bonsai_books_english.html
Thanks to Bonsai Europe - The
Netherlands for giving us expesssed permission to use
the above images to illustrate this Book Review.
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