Nature in Miniature

These 113 color photographs take a close look at bits and pieces of nature: leaves, flowers, rocks, spider webs, lichen, caterpillars, pine cones. Bright, clear colors and startlingly crisp focus show off Feininger's ( In a Grain of Sand: Exploring Design by Nature ) technical expertise, as he examines the scaly detail of a butterfly wing, the ``structural and artistic feat of genius'' of a feather, a broken conch shell which seems to ``greet an approaching storm with open arms,'' the sexual imagery revealed in a piece of driftwood, in a couple of acorns, in the landscapes contained in a thin slice of agate. At times, overtly manipulative composition (e.g., shots taken from a very low angle to enhance the monumentality of a small subject) detracts from the documentary integrity of the majority of these pictures. Wide-eyed, big-hearted commentary and captions exclaim the wonder and pleasure Feininger finds in nature. (July)