Arthur Harry Church (1865-1937) was a botanist who focused on the morphology and structure of plants
and began to illustrate to demonstrate his findings.
He has since earned a reputation as a scientific botanical illustrator of note.
and began to illustrate to demonstrate his findings.
He has since earned a reputation as a scientific botanical illustrator of note.
Biography - education and employment
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Born 24th March 1865 in Plymouth, Devon.
Education and Academic Employment: he studied Botany at University College, Aberystwyth and graduated with an (external) first class degree from London University (in 1891). This enabled him to win science scholarship to Jesus College at Oxford University. He came up to Oxford in 1891 and spent the rest of his life participating in scholarship and the academic life of Oxford.
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Viola altaica - an illustration of a dissection - from 'Types of Floral Mechanism' by Arthur Harry Church
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His approach to botany and illustration
'one of the most ablest and original botanists of his time'
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Church focused on morphology and the structure of plants. His drawings of the morphology of flowers and plants are considered to be some of the finest in the UK.
He became very knowledgeable about how flowers systems worked - but never travelled as other botanists did to see plants in their natural habitats. Church's particular skill was in developing techniques for examination of flowers and plants in ways which revealed all their inner structures while leaving all the parts with crisp sharp edges in his illustrations of cross-sections and diagrams. He was also meticulous in the way he painted and developed techniques which allowed him to maintain precision in his illustrations as well as his dissections. |
Nerium Oleander - an illustration of a dissection - from 'Types of Floral Mechanism' by Arthur Harry Church
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Publications
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In 1904 he published On the relation of phyllotaxis to mechanical law which includes:
In 1908, he published Part 1 of Types of Floral Mechanism (Clarendon Press 1908) which was intended to be the first volume of an account of "The Hundred Best Flowers" as a way of providing a general explanation of floral morphology. It comprises large coloured and uncoloured illustrations of 12 different types of flowers and associated text. This first part deals with the flowering plants of winter and early spring (January to April). It was intended that there would be three more parts covering the later months of the year. However his insistence on the quality of the reproduction of the illustrations - and associated costs - meant that no further volumes were published. |
His "Botanical Memoirs" contained most of what he wanted to say about plants in print. These were essentially summaries of the various materials he used in lectures. They were issued in 15 volumes by Oxford University Press between 1919 and 1925.
He married and had three daughters - each of which had the name of a plant in flower at the time of her birth as her second name. He died in Oxford on 24th April 1937 aged 72. His obituary goes some way to explain why he developed the ideas he had and why his work was neglected for a long time. It also explains in detail the history behind each of his publications and their timing. He was an old fashioned nineteenth century botanist of supreme excellence |
The Arthur Harry Church Drawings Collection
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The Arthur Harry Church Drawings Collection is the largest collection of the work of Arthur Harry Church and includes 773 original watercolour drawings.
They are part of the Permanent Collection of the Natural History Museum. The original intention was that they would be used - with associated text - in the remaining volumes of his book on floral mechanisms.. However his portfolio of botanical illustrations of the internal structures and morphology of flowers lay unnoticed in the Museum of Natural History for several decades prior to the publication of this book by Professor David Mabberly in 2000. |
Pyrus communis - an illustration of a dissection - from 'Types of Floral Mechanism' by Arthur Harry Church
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VIEW The Structure of a Flower - an EXCELLENT page of dissection images by Arthur Harry Chruch revealing the structure and anatomy of flowers - which can be viewed online - on the website of the Natural History Museum
Arthur Harry Church: The Anatomy of Flowers
by A.H. Church and David J. Mabberley
by A.H. Church and David J. Mabberley
Most of the drawings in this volume remained unpublished while Church was alive and are published here for the first time; they demonstrate the modernity of his technique and style....
The reproduction of images is absolutely superb and most are a full page. Colour reproduction and definition is excellent.
My second hand copy of this book
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The back cover of the book
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This stunning monograph uses previously unpublished material from the 773 drawings by Church in the permanent collection of the Library of the Natural History Museum to reveal:
The author, Professor David Mabberley AM is a British-born botanist, educator and writer who has held botanical appointments at universities around the world and is renowned for his books about botanical artists. He's currently Emeritus Professor at the University of Leiden. In 2008 he became the Keeper of the Herbarium, Library, Art and Archives at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |
Hardcover: 128 pages
Publisher: Merrell Publishers Ltd; 1st Edition edition (20 Sept. 2000) Rated an average of 5.0 out of 5 stars based on
BUY THIS BOOK The price of this book has increased enormously since I bought my copy. It's unlikely to decrease but you might get lucky! Be prepared to accept less than perfect book covers. I'd very much RECOMMEND checking if you can view the contents before you get a copy - through a reputable library or a good friend. You're very unlikely to get a loan copy to take home!! Arthur Harry Church: The Anatomy of Flowers
 from Amazon UK
Arthur Harry Church:The Anatomy of Flowers
 from Amazon.com
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Second hand copies - like mine - often come with some discolouration of the outer margins - but this had no impact on the images in the book.
Wonderful book of a botanical artist who is largely unknown. Plates are beautifully reproduced on good quality paper. Shame it is out of print.
Reference
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READ ONLINE - Botanical Memoirs Series
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Other online references:
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More Past Masters of Botanical Art & Illustration
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