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Mariposas Nocturnas: Moths of Central and South America; A Study in Beauty and Diversity

by Gowin, E.

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Publisher : Princeton University Press
Illustrations : 51 col plates, col + b/w illus

Our customers have given this title an average rating of 4 out of 5 from 1 review(s)

Customer Rating: AvgRating5

Description:

A stunning portrait of the nocturnal moths of Central and South America by famed American photographer Emmet Gowin. American photographer Emmet Gowin (b. 1941) is best known for his portraits of his wife, Edith, and their family, as well as for his images documenting the impact of human activity upon landscapes around the world. For the past fifteen years, he has been engaged in an equally profound project on a different scale, capturing the exquisite beauty of more than one thousand species of nocturnal moths in Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, French Guiana, and Panama (on 51 plates, each with 25 moths illustrated). These stunning color portraits present the insects—many of which may never have been photographed as living specimens before, and some of which may not be seen again—arrayed in typologies of twenty-five per sheet. The moths are photographed alive, in natural positions and postures, and set against a variety of backgrounds taken from the natural world and images from art history.

Customer Reviews

Our customers have given this title an average rating of 4 out of 5 from 1 review(s), Click here to add your own review for this title.

Dave Mangham on 10/9/2017 8:56:53 PM

Rating5 (4 out of 5)

A stunning book, both in size and photographic content.

Firstly, regarding the size, it is huge, definitely within the 'coffee table' criteria. It is 29cm x 36cm, not something that will fit comfortably on your average bookshelf, but only 144pp.

The content is basically 51 plates, each consisting of 25 images of moths, 1275 species in total, mostly taken in Panama or Uruguay. There are no descriptive notes, just taxon name associated with each picture. There is only 1 plate depicting the moths of Brazil. This is the reason I only gave it 4 out of 5.

It's not a field guide, but given the absence of anything else on the market to aid those of us with a passion for moths, it is a good introduction to this continent.