This page pays homage to and provides an overview of Rory McEwen
​who was one of the most influential botanical artists of recent years.
It covers:
  • an overview of the botanical painting life of Rory McEwen plus a more detailed timeline of his biography (as this relates to botanical art);
  • a review of his botanical art practices - how he painted and what media he used
  • the publications in which you can see his botanical paintings - some of which are catalogues for exhibitions of his work
  • a list of exhibitions and an overview of three key exhibitions - True Facts from Nature (1974), Rory McEwen - The Botanical Paintings (1988) and Rory McEwen - The Colours of Reality (2013) - and associated publications.
  • a list of individual paintings - culled from catalogues and listed as a timeline
  • a summary of the series he developed
  • a biographical timeline and ​links to more information about Rory McEwen.​​​
Rory McEwen was also a very talented musician who played 12 string guitar and focused on music between 1955-65.

​This page is however dedicated to his botanical art which he learned to paint while at Eton and began to dedicate more time to in the 1970s and 80s.
'Rory McEwen’s unique talent was to combine botanical accuracy, artistic elegance and superb technique in the same painting'
Martin Rix
Picture
McEwen's painting of a fritillary on the cover of the catalogue of the retrospective exhibition of his work in 1988

About Rory McEwen - a summary
​

"I paint flowers as a way of getting as close as possible to what I perceive as the truth, my truth of the time in which I live"
Rory McEwen
Rory McEwen was one of the best botanical artists that the UK has ever produced. He painted the flawless and the less than perfect with equal precision and artistic flair. His paintings were always works of art.

He was also one of the most importance influences on the development of contemporary botanical art - across the world.

This is a summary of his life as it related to botanical art. Although it should be noted he was a person with special talents which included music as well as art. (His music career and legacy are not covered on this page).

​You can see a more detailed timeline at the bottom of this page.
​
“He was the first botanical painter to portray the natural world with the mind of a modern artist”
Christabel McEwen

​Born in 1932 in Berwickshire, Scotland, Rory McEwen started painting flowers when he was only eight years old.

His talent was recognised by Wilfred Blunt who taught him art at Eton at the same time that Blunt was writing his authoritative book 'The Art of Botanical Illustration' which explored the wide range of botanical illustration over time. Blunt pointed McEwen in the direction of the masters of botanical painting from the past (e.g. Ehret and Redoute) and he learned from them all he needed to become an exceptional botanical artist.  

McEwen had no formal art school training. However, he had a talent to represent his botanical subject matter with scientific precision and artistic flair, and never compromising one for the other. 
​
In 1955, by the time he finished at Cambridge University, eight of Rory’s watercolour paintings on vellum were published in "Old Carnations and Pinks" (see below) by the Rev. C. Oscar Moreton, with an introduction by Sacheverell Sitwell. His early suites of paintings, e.g. of old species of carnations and pinks, are simply stunning - and are displayed in this book. 

As a young man Rory McEwen combined the careers of a flower painter and a musician. His music and television career covered the period 1956-65.

From 1964 McEwen devoted himself exclusively to visual art., after which he became a full-time visual artist in 1964.

He continued to paint in watercolour on vellum and continued to follow the practice of many botanical artists of working with authors on publications about specific species.
  • He again worked with the Rev. Oscar C. Moreton on illustrations for The Auricula, It’s History and Character ​. This included 17 coloured plates reproduced from paintings by Rory McEwen.
  • ​He collaborated with his old tutor, Wilfrid Blunt.Tulips and Tulipomania (Basilisk Press 1977)  is Illustrated with 16 coloured lithographs of tulips by Rory McEwen of tulips grown by members of the Wakefield and North of England Tulip Society
​
The colour plates of tulips after paintings by Rory McEwen were printed lithographically and tipped into the book. The separate portfolio of eight large, coloured lithographic prints are signed and numbered by Rory McEwen and suitable for framing. 
Ursus Books
In his own paintings he forged his own interpretation of 20th century modernism, with individual flowers and vegetables as the subject. 
​
​At the same time as painting his own version and interpretation of botanical art, he simultaneously experimented with glass, metal and perspex sculptures and abstracts in oil.

​In the 1970s he had a number of important exhibitions at the Redfern Gallery in London and exhibited widely on an international basis.

​The exhibition of a series of paintings called  ‘True Facts from Nature’ series has been characterised as hugely influential in the development of contemporary botanical art.
Picture
Dr Shirley Sherwood with Rory McEwan's paintings of Old English Florist Tulips
McEwen is the greatest painter of tulips since the Dutch masters of the 17th century. 
Robin Lane Fox - FT Review of the exhibition at The Shirley Sherwood Gallery

​In the late 1970s he began his major series of paintings of leaves. Their titles focused on places that were meaingful to him, rather than botanical names.

Over the course of his career, McEwen developed a distinctive style, using large backgrounds to float his objects on unadorned vellum, without shadows, and executed in exact, minutely accurate detail; he saw them as ‘plant portraits’, recording the imperfect and the unique as well as the flawless. 
Brief for the Colours of Reality Exhibition

​He died age 50 on the 16th October, 1982.

His work has subsequently been celebrated in two major retrospective exhibitions in 1988/9 and 2013, two books and a television programme.

His artwork can be found in the collections of the British Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, Tate, National Gallery of Modern Art, Scotland, the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, the Hunt Institute, Pittsburgh, and MOMA, New York

Many botanical artists now acknowledge his artwork as very influential to their own development as contemporary botanical artists.

Biographical Footnote

Rory McEwen's lineage indicates he is descended from John Lindley, the botanist whose name is memorialised in the RHS Lindley Hall and the RHS Lindley Library.

Artistic Practice
​

The greatest change in Rory's work was to discard paper for vellum.... No paper can match the smoothness of its surface or lend such translucency and richness to watercolour. Rory painted on it with the concentration of a watchmaker, using a sheaf of the tiniest brushes, a sheet of cartridge paper as a colour tester and a delicate penknife to scrape away errors. 
John McEwen - quoted in 'The Colours of Reality' p62
For his Botanical Art, he developed a unique style for his paintings.
  • He painted on paper in the 1950s and sometimes on vellum
  • In the 1960s he switched to painting on vellum 
  • He often painted larger than life in later years - but using the techniques of a miniaturist.
  • He was unafraid of negative white space. One of the aspects of his work less evident in books is his placement of his subject on a large sheet of vellum. A number of his botanical paintings display the subject of the painting floating as if in space - with the space enabling us to recognise and focus on the unique attributes of each flower or leaf or other aspect of a plant.
In terms of subject matter:
  • he created series of paintings of heritage species of flowers
  • he painted single leaves in minute detail and, for many, he highlighted the beauty of leaves - even when they are imperfect.
  • He developed cancer and later paintings of leaves both record places special to him and reflect his fight with the disease.
In terms of media:
  • he worked in watercolour on large sheets of vellum. His stock of vellum was bequeathed on this death to 
  • he also produced prints (see below) 
Rory McEwen's Vellum
​
The McEwen family gifted Rory's stock of vellum sheets to the The Hunt Institute following his death in 1982.

​The late James White (and subsequently others) have gifted pieces of Rory's vellum to artists who have an interest in working on vellum, at their discretion. Occasionally you will see an artwork labelled that is has been executed on a sheet of Rory McEwen's vellum.
REFERENCE: ARTISTIC PRACTICE

​Below is a record of what Martin J Allen and I could glean about his artistic practice while visiting the exhibition at Kew in 2013
  • RECOMMENDED: Review of Rory McEwen – The Colours of Reality by Martin J. Allen - this review is of particular interest to botanical artists. It's an exploration of the practices of one botanical artist - based on evidence in the exhibition - by another who saw the original 'True Facts from Nature' exhibition. It focuses on artistic practice and use of brush and time taken to complete a painting

Publications
​

These are publications in which Rory McEwen provides the illustrations rather than the text.
‘His botanical work predated and outlasted all others, and in it, paradoxically, he was most truly an artist of his time. For a while a good many artists could work in these idioms of modernism, none could paint an auricula or an onion as he could, while possessing the consciousness of a modern artist’. 
Douglas Hall- Keeper of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art 1960 -1984
Old Carnations and Pinks by C.O. Moreton with illustrations by Rory McEwen
This was his first collaboration and venture into print via creating a series of works for a book.  (In 1964, he illustrated The Auricula by the same author - see below)

These are botanical artworks in the stylised antiquarian representational style. 

It's still possible to buy this book, as I have, if you don't mind having a used copy. My copy of this fascinating book is now 60 years old. It's lovely to have full plates of old carnations and pinks as well as the stories behind them.
Hardcover: 51 pages
Publisher: George Rainbird in association with Collins;
Date: 1st Ed edition (1955)
​
BUY THIS BOOK (second hand)
Old carnations and pinks from Amazon.co.uk
The Auricula : its history and character by C. Oscar Moreton;
This was a repeat of the collaboration for Old Carnations and Pinks - except this time it related to auriculas. This book was limited to 500 copies and hence is very difficult to get hold of and very expensive when you find it.
Published:London : Ariel Press,
Date: c. 1964
(2 editions published between 1964 and 1966 in English)

Includes seventeen coloured plates reproduced from paintings by Rory McEwen.

Currently unavailable or very difficult to find
Tulips & Tulipomania by Wilfrid Blunt, 1901-1987 with sixteen plates from paintings by Rory McEwen
Picture
Plate 16 by Rory McEwen in of "Tulips and Tulipomania" by Wilfrid Blunt
Teacher and student collaborated for the first time on this publication with
  • Blunt providing authoritative text and
  • McEwen providing the images of the tulips

The price when this comes up for auction reflects the rarity and value of this book.

Not to be confused with "Tulipomania" by Wilfrid Blunt - with sixteen plates from eventeenth centruy watercolours by Alexander Marshal (published as a King Penguin Book in 1950)
​Blunt (Wilfrid) Tulips & Tulipomania
  • 2 vol. including portfolio of plates; text with tipped-in colour plates and illustrations; 
  • Bound in 1/4 pressed morocco with patterned cloth covered boards, cloth covered slipcase.
  • 515 copies signed by the author
  • Pages: 100; 16 col. plates. 
  • 8 colour plates by Rory McEwen, all signed, numbered and dated in pencil, loose as issued in original pictorial cloth drop-back box (with text in pocket inside lid), 
  • Publisher: Basilisk Press
  • Date: 1977
  • Size: large folio (1st ed. 28.4 x 20.5 cms)
"The colour plates of tulips after paintings by Rory McEwen were printed lithographically and tipped into the book.
​The separate portfolio of eight large, coloured lithographic prints are signed and numbered by Rory McEwen and suitable for framing.The author, Wilfred Blunt, provides an often-quoted history of the tulip, giving an account of its discovery in Turkey at the court of Suleiman the Magnificent, and its gradual proliferation throughout Europe, with special chapters on tulipomania in Holland, England and Turkey. A very fine copy signed by Blunt on the colophon. One of the great rarities and desiderata of modern botanical literature"
Ursus Books and Prints website - about a copy presented for sale

Rory McEwen's Art Exhibitions and Catalogues

The major Rory McEwen Exhibitions that people tend to talk about are highlighted below
You can see a full list of all his exhibitions of his botanical art towards the end of his page - after the Timeline of his life.

Rory McEwen: True Facts from Nature, Recent Paintings (1974)
​Redfern Gallery
​

This exhibition stimulated a new generation of botanical artists. 
​
​Today it's considered to be one of the key points in the development of botanical art.

It's almost impossible to get hold of a catalogue of the exhibition. Anybody who has got one has a real investment!
REFERENCE:

Paintings
Rory McEwen's True Facts from Nature show at the Redfern Gallery, Cork Street, is another example of first-class precision painting; here the subject Is figurative and the leaf studies are remarkable. That McEwen can do for the leaf what Audubon did for birds is not in doubt, but the smartness of the presentation almost undoes him. These immaculately rendered studies compete with the handsome mounts and frames that enshrine their. The calfskin vellum is a most impressive surface, and the offcentre placement of the single leaf gives it an importance that underlines the effect with all the subtlety of a drum roll. But, despite the vulgar good taste, they are damned good pictures.
​​The Spectator 16 March 1974
the ‘True Facts from Nature’ series are virtually impenetrable – they look like they were always like that, as if they had miraculously appeared, with no hint as to how they were created
Martin J Allen
Coral Guest commented on seeing his exhibitions in the 1970s then again in 1988 at the Serpentine

'Rory McEwen - The Botanical Paintings'
​Memorial exhibition - The Serpentine Gallery (1988)

This exhibition marked and commemorated his passing and stimulated a new generation of botanical artists. 
An exhibition "Rory McEwen: The Botanical Paintings" was held after his death, in 1988, as part of the Edinburgh Festival at
  • the Inverleith House (Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh).
  • Aberdeen Art Gallery 1988 and 
  • ​The Serpentine Gallery (26 Nov 1988 to 8 Jan 1989).
You can see some of the images displayed on the archive pages of Inverleith House 
Rory McEwen's painting is in the tradition of Ligozzi, Ehrt or Redoute; it is at the same time botanically accurate and artistically superb; neither art not science is compromised"
'Rory McEwen and the Tradition of Botanical Art' - essay by Martyn Rix in "Rory McEwen The Botanical Paintings"
Rory McEwen: The Botanical Paintings
by Caroline Cuthbert (Editor), ​Rory McEwen  (Illustrator)
This is the book and catalogue produced for the retrospective exhibition, following his death, at The Serpentine Gallery in 1988. ​

The cover is his magical and delicate painting of the fritallary. ​

I'm fortunate to own a very good second-hand copy - and I recommend you try and get hold of a copy.
​Paperback: 
  • 82 pages, 7" x 8.5"
  • 24 full colour plates;
  • 74 small monochrome plates
​Publisher: Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in association with the Serpentine Gallery (1988)
BUY THIS BOOK

'The Colours of Reality' ​Retrospective Exhibition
at The Shirley Sherwood Gallery, Kew Gardens (11 May - 22 September 2013)
​

Botanical artists from all over the world flew into London to see this exhibition!
In 2013 Kew Gardens held a special retrospective exhibition of his work called The Colours of Reality in The Shirley Sherwood Gallery. ​Ranging from the 1950s to early 1980s, the exhibition will feature works loaned from his family and private collectors
​The exhibition was extremely popular with both botanical artists in the UK and those who love botanical art.

A seperate exhibition Rory McEwen’s Legacy, (opened April 13th 2013), in the long galleries showed how he inspired many of today’s artists in the Shirley Sherwood Collection.
​
Picture
Shirley Sherwood in the "The Colours of Reality Exhibition" at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at Kew Gardens - with some of the paintings, sketchbooks and other memorabilia of the artistic career of Rory McEwen
Features and Reviews: 
Rory McEwen: The Colours of Reality ​by Martyn Rix
This is a very influential book. It's both:
  • the Catalogue for a landmark exhibition (of the same name) at The Shirley Sherwood Gallery at The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  • the only contemporary book about the botanical artwork of Rory McEwen (1932-1982).

​I own a copy of this book and it's very precious.  
The reproduction quality of the publication is very good.

If you get a magnifying glass out and inspect the colour plates, you can see something of how he painted his subject matter - including the tiny strokes of paint - although there comes a point where it's difficult to distinguish the strokes from the dots of the printing process!

The only real issue I have with this book is that it's sometimes difficult to get a sense of the size of the image or painting 
  • ​Some of the subjects in the book have a magnified image.
  • the images are often cropped when included in the book. This means you can see the painting of the subject very clearly but not the placement on the page or the space left around it - which is obviously a critical part of the art in the eyes of the artist.​
The author Martin Rix is the editor of Curtis's Botanical Magazine and the author of numerous books about botanical art.

Publisher: Royal Botanic Gardens
​1st Edition: 7 May 2013)
Pages: 224 pages
Available as hardback and paperback
Revised Hardback: published 2015​
Cover painting: Kensington Gardens I, Viburnum X Carisephan (1979)
​(watercolour on vellum, 21 x 18 cm).

Rated an average of 5 out of 5 stars by:
  • 31 customers on Amazon UK
  • 10 customers on Amazon.com​​
Rory McEwen: The Colours of Reality available from Amazon.co.uk

The Individual Paintings of Rory McEwen
​

This section is devoted to what I can find out about the paintings of Rory McEwen based on the catalogues - and took a very long time to pull together!

I've reorganised data about the individual artworks so they are listed by year rather than by exhibition. 
The listing now includes (where available):
  • media and size
  • year they were painted (I've not got more precise dates so have tended to list alphabetically within each year)
  • who now owns them (Caution: some of the data relates to the time when they were last exhibited)
  • the series of paintings he created in relation to decades of his painting career
  • when they were exhibited - in relation to the key exhibitions. This data is colour coded - see below
​
His botanical work predated and outlasted all others, and in it, paradoxically, he was most truly an artist of his time. For a while a good many artists could work in these idioms of modernism, none could paint an auricula or an onion as he could, while possessing the consciousness of a modern artist’.
Douglas Hall - Keeper of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art 1960 -1984

​COLOUR KEY TO TITLES (desktop only):
Never exhibited | Exhibited 1960s | Exhibited 1970s, 1988 and 2013 | Exhibited 1988 | Exhibited 1988 and 2013 | Exhibited 2013 ​
The 1950s

1952
  • Rose 'Gloire de Dijion' 1952, Watercolour on paper, Mr and Mrs John McEwen
1953
  • Two Carnations 1953, Watercolour on vellum, Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother
  • Rose 'Königin von Dänemark' 1953, Watercolour on vellum, Signed, dated and inscribed, H.R.H. The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
  • Rose 'Rose Mundi' 1953, Watercolour on vellum, (Signed, dated July 1953 and inscribed), H.R.H. The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
  • Rose 'Souvenir de la Malmaison' (Signed and dated July 1953) Painted as a present for his aunt Mary Keswick nee Lindley
  • Apples 1953, Watercolour on vellum, 26.7 x 20.3cm Signed and dated, Lady Rose Yorke
1954
  • Carnations 'The Painted Lady' 1954, Watercolour on vellum, Signed, dated and inscribed, Private Collection (note described as 'Old Pink 'The Painted Lady' in 2013)
  • Carnations 'Hawkshead Flake', 'Newquay Flake' 1954 Watercolour on Vellum 35.6 x 27.9cm
  • Old Carnation 'Nutmeg Clove 1954 Watercolour on vellum 31.8 x 21.6cm
  • Old Irish Laced ink from Avoca 1954 Watercolour on Vellum 32.4 x 22.2 cm
  • Old Pinks 'Paisley Gem', 'Wlliam Brownhill', Murray's Laced Pink' 1954 Watercolour on Vellum 32.4cm x 22.2cm
1955​
  • Tulips 'Julia Farnese' 1955, Watercolour on vellum, 40 x 23cm Signed and dated, Private Collection
  • Tulips 1955, Watercolour on vellum, 39.4 x 24.8cm Signed and dated, Private Collection
1958
  • Old English Tulip 'Lord Frederick Cavendish' 1955, Painted in 1954 at Cambridge. from Wakefield. Given to Liz and Raimund von Hofmannsthal. Auctioned to raise money for Greenlaw Town Hall. Bought by Robert Hesketh
REFERENCE:
Correspondence between Rory McEwen and the Wakefield and North of England Tulip Society. He became Patron of the Society in 1962.
Two paintings in the White House

Dear Mr. Calvert,
I returned recently from New York, where the exhibition of my flower paintings has just closed. I am happy to say that it was successful, nearly selling out on the opening day. The reason I am writing to you is that two of the pictures were bought by an anonymous donor and given in perpetuity to the White House in Washington. One of these pictures was a painting of Julia Farnese and the Old Dutch Bizarre that you so kindly sent me last summer. The name of your Society is written on the picture, and I had the good fortune to meet the President’s wife, Mrs Kennedy and told her all about the tulips, in which she was very interested. So long as the White House stands, the Wakefield Tulip Society’s flowers and the name of the Society will be hanging on the wall there!

A letter from Rory McEwen to Mr H R Calvert, the Secretary of the Wakefield and North of England Tulip Society dated 16 January 1963
The 1960s

1961
  • Gentiana No. 2 (two Gentians) Watercolour on vellum 24.8 x 14cm
1962
  • Group of Allwood's Carnations 1962, Watercolour on vellum, 32.4 x 22.2cm Signed, Mr and Mrs Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia
  •  Allwood's Carnations I 1962, Watercolour on vellum, Signed, Private Collection
  • Dianthus caryophyllus (Allwoods carnation 'Queen of Sheba') watercolour on vellum 18 3/8 x 11 3/8 (signed and dated 1962 - and exhibited at the First International Exhibition at the Hunt Institute) Could be the same as the one above.
  • Tulipa clusiana 1962 Watercolour on vellum 34.3 x 30.5cm
  • Tulipa clusiana (Clusius Tulip 'Crysantha (yellow and red) and Stellata (pink). Watercolour on vellum 17 3/4 x 11/7/8 signed and dated October 1962
  • James Wild, Sir Joseph Paxton and Adonis Tulips with Narcissus. Watercolour and graphite on vellum. (40 x 27.3cm | 15.75 x 10.75ins)  Signed lower right, and inscribed verso "Started Cambridge Spring 1955/Finished (from notes) Feb. 23rd 1962 at Marchmont/Tulips left to right facing picture (blooms)/James Wild/Sir Joseph Paxton/Adonis/All from Wakefield Tulip Growers Assoc"
  • Tulipa hoogiana 1962, Watercolour on vellum, Signed, Lady Pamela Harlech
  • Amaryllis 1962, Watercolour on vellum, Signed, Private Collection
  • Old Pink 'Caeser's Mantle' 1962 Watercolour on vellum 27 x 16.2cm
1963
  • Auricula ‘S.G. Holden' (White Edge) 1963, Watercolour on vellum, Signed, dated and inscribed on verso, Private Collection
  • Auricula ‘Gold of Ophir' (Yellow self) 1963, Watercolour on vellum, Signed, dated and  inscribed on verso, Private Collection
  • Auricula ‘Lady Drury' (Light-centred alpine) 1963, Watercolour on vellum, Signed, dated and inscribed on verso, Private Collection
  • Anenome 1 1963-64 Watercolour on vellum, 39.4 x 26.7cm
  • Two Anemones (Red) 1963-64, Watercolour on vellum, Signed, Mrs H J Heinz II
  • Two Anemones (Purple) 1963-64, Watercolour on vellum, 38.1 x 26.7cm Signed, Mrs H J Heinz II
1964
  • Lily Bud 1964, Watercolour on vellum, Private Collection
  • Crocuses 1964, Watercolour on vellum, Signed and dated, Mrs Tessa Kennedy
  • Dead Carnation 1963-64 Watercolour on vellum 43.2 x 41.9cm
  • Greek Wild Flowers. Orchid and Hyacinth 1964 Anacamptis laxiflora and Muscari comosum Watercolour on vellum 50.2 x 42.5cm
1965
  • Gentiana sino-ornata I 1965, Watercolour on vellum, Signed, dated and inscribed, Private Collection
  • Two Gentians 1964-65, Watercolour on vellum, Signed, The Earl and Countess of Airlie
  • Fritillary ‘Crown Imperial' 1965, Watercolour on vellum, 78.1 x 56.5cm. Signed, dated and inscribed on verso, Private Collection - Dr. Shirley Sherwood
  • Lily Bud 1965, Watercolour on vellum 28.6 x 46.4cm
  • Wild Cyclamen 1965 Clyclamen Coum f. pallidum Watercolour on Vellum 17.8 x  12.4cm
1967
  • Artichoke 1967, Watercolour on vellum, Signed and dated, Mrs Oliver Hoare
The 1970s

1970
  • ​Onion 1970 crayon and collage on paper, 21 x 17.2cm
1971
  • Bhutanese Pepper 1971, Watercolour on vellum, Signed and dated; inscribed on verso, Private Collection
  • Crab Apple 1971, Watercolour on vellum, Private Collection
  • Flowering Artichoke 1971, Watercolour on vellum, Signed and dated, Mrs H J Heinz II
  • Peeling Onion 1971, Watercolour on vellum, 37 x 48cm. Signed and dated, Private Collection
  • Indian Onion (Painted in Benares) 1971,  Watercolour on vellum, 22 x 27cm. Signed and dated, Lady Keswick
  • Persimmon 1971, Watercolour on vellum, Signed and dated, The Lord Hesketh
  • Red Pepper 1971, Watercolour on vellum, Signed and dated, The Lord Hesketh
  • Red Pepper II 1971 Watercolour on vellum 25.6 x 19cm
1972
  • Artichoke in Flower 1972 Etching on handmade Crisbrook paper 42 x 33cm
  • Dead Violets VI 1972, Watercolour on vellum, Signed and dated, The Lord Hesketh
  • Mushroom 1972, Watercolour on vellum, 17.8 x 24.2 cm. Signed and dated 'For Marina with kind regards 20/7/74', Marina Vaizey
  • Single violet 1972 Etching on handmade Crisbrook paper 42 x 33cm
  • Rose ‘Madame Issac Periere' 1971-72, Watercolour on vellum, Signed and dated, The Lord Hesketh
  • ​True Facts From Nature No.4 1972, Watercolour on vellum, Signed and dated, Private Collection
  • Violets and Leaf 1972 Etching on handmade Crisbrook paper 42 x 33cm
1973
  • True Facts From Nature No.10 (Northern Leaves for Cy) 1973, Signed, dated and inscribed, Private Collection
  • True Facts From Nature (7 images) 1973, Watercolour on vellum, Signed and dated, Jim and Nancy Dine
  • True Facts From Nature (Sycamore Leaf) 1973, Watercolour on vellum, Signed and dated, The Lord Hesketh
  • True Facts From Nature (Cherry Leaf) 1973, Watercolour on vellum, Signed and dated, The Earl of Gowrie
1974
  • Old- fashioned Rose, Beech Mast and Clover 1974, Watercolour on vellum, Signed, Private Collection
  • Red Tulip, July 28 1974, Watercolour on paper, Signed and dated, Private Collection
  • Sweet Pea 1974, Watercolour on paper, Signed and dated, Private Collection
  • Amaryllis, September 4 1974, Watercolour on paper, Signed and dated, private Collection
  • Grasses and Wildflowers, September 4 1974, Watercolour on paper, Signed and dated, Private Collection
  • Grasses, September 9 1974, Watercolour on paper, Signed, dated and inscribed, The Lord Ogilvy
  • Grasses and Wildflowers, September 1974, Watercolour on paper, Signed, dated and inscribed, Mr and Mrs Anthony Aris
  • Primula scotica 1974, Watercolour on vellum, 30.2 x 27cm. Signed and dated, Professor T.A Lee
1976
  • Old English Striped Tulip ‘Sam Barlow', Bizarre, Feathered 1974-76, Signed, dated; inscribed by Professor Parvanta, Private Collection
  • Dying Tulip I 1976 Watercolour on Vellum
  • Dying Tulip II 1976, Watercolour on vellum, Signed with initials and dated, Private Collection
  • Bybloemen Tulip ‘Columbine' Breeder' 1976, Watercolour on vellum, Signed with initials and dated, Yonty Solomon
  • Bybloemen Tulip ‘habit de Noce' Feathered 1976, Watercolour on vellum, Signed with initials and dated, Private Collection
  • Tulip (Red and Yellow) 1976, Watercolour on vellum, Signed with initials and dated, Private Collection
  • Fritillaria gibbosa 1976, Watercolour on vellum, Signed with initials and dated. 17.5 inches (44.45cm)  x 13 inches (33cm). RHS Lindley Library (This one is special to me as it's the first in the Fritillaria series (his favourite flower) and I researched and wrote the provenance for this painting which has never been in gallery or auction, never been exhibited and never been published - and advised on its sale to the RHS!)
A member of the Wakefield and North of England Tulip Society created a tulip named after him - Tulipa Rory McEwen Bybloemen Flame ( see also Old Tulips)
1977
  • Grasses 1977, Watercolour on paper, Signed and dated, Private Collection
  • Fritillaria latifolia 1977, Watercolour on vellum, 45.7 x 34.2 cm Signed and dated, The Earl of Haddington
  • Fritillaria lusitanica 1977, watercolour on vellum, 45.7 x 34.3cm - painted from a specimen collected in the Algarve, Portugal (Exhibited 1982 New York)
  • Fritillaria meleagris 1977, Watercolour on vellum, Signed and dated, Prudence Cuming
  • Fritillaria messanensis  1977 , Watercolour on vellum, Signed and dated, Rory McEwen - painted from a specimen collected at the foot of Mount Oylmpus in Greece. Also exhibited 1982, New York
  • Fritillaria messanensis (two forms) 1977, Watercolour on vellum, 45 x 34 cm
  • Fritillaria raddeana 1977, Watercolour on paper, 71.1 x 50.8cmSigned and dated, Private Collection
  • Taraxacum officinalis [sic]. Dandelion with Knockdolian Hill: ‘Homage to Karl Blossfeldt' No.2 1977, Watercolour on paper, Signed, dated and inscribed, Private Collection
  • Aconitum. Monk's Hood with Ailsa Craig II; Homage to Karl Blossfeldt' No.5 1977, Watercolour on paper, , Private Collection
  • Forsythia suspense. Japanese Golden Bell with Ailsa Craig; ‘Homage to Karl Blossfeldt' No.6 1977, Watercolour on paper, Signed, dated and inscribed, Private Collection
  • Allium ostrowskianum. Umbel of Garlic Plant with Knockdolian Hill I; ‘Homage to Karl Blossfeldt' No. 8 1977, Watercolour on paper, Signed and inscribed, Private Collection​
  • Equisetum hiemale [sic]. Winter horsetail with Ailsa Craig II; ‘Homage to Karl Blossfeldt' No.11 1977, Watercolour on paper, Signed and inscribed, Private Collection
1978
  • Bardrochat 1978, Watercolour on vellum, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
  • Tulip 1978 Signed and dated 1978 
  • Tulip 1978 Signed and dated 1978 - Both tulips are from a series of aquatints, with hand colouring. Printed by Rory McEwen
Over the course of his career, McEwen developed a distinctive style, using large backgrounds to float his ‘plant portraits’ on vellum. Without shadows and executed in exact, minutely accurate detail, he recorded the imperfect and the unique, as well as the flawless 
Colours of Reality | Press release 
1979
  • Brittany Pyrus communis 1979, Watercolour on vellum, 30.5 x 30.5cm
  • Datchet Road, Eton 1979, Watercolour on vellum, 55.9 x 45.1cm. Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
  • Dutchman's Farm, Eton 1979, Watercolour on vellum,  Private Collection
  • Fulham Road II 1979 tempera on vellum, 11½ x 9¾ in. (29.3 x 24.8 cm.) ​ signed, inscribed and dated 'The Fulham Road #2 Rory McEwen 1979' (on the bottom edge)
  • Kensington Gardens 1979 (Vibernum xcarlcaphalim hort.) Watercolour on vellum, 21 x 18cm. Exhibited 1980 in Tokyo, 
  • Kew Gardens II 1979, Watercolour on vellum, Platanus x hispanica 34.6 x 41.6cm Exhibited Tokyo 1980
  • Kew Gardens IV 1979, Watercolour on vellum, The Syndics of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
  • Limerston Street 1979, Watercolour on vellum, Private Collection Exhibited Tokyo 1980.
  • Redcliffe Square, London 1979, Watercolour on vellum, 22.3 X 19cm (Note: listed by Christies as ink and watercolour 
    10¾ x 9¼ in. (27.3 x 23.5 cm.) - same painting or different?)
  • Richmond Hill (Oak leaf) 1979, Watercolour on vellum, 30 x 29.8cm Exhibited Taranman Gallery 1979-80
  • Roland Gardens 1979, Tilia x europaea Watercolour on vellum, Mrs Cecilia McEwen
  • The Smiddy Wood, Bardrochat 1979, Prunus laurocerasus Watercolour on vellum, 25 x 31cm.  Exhibited Taranman Gallery 197-80
  • Upper Club, Eton 1979, Prunus sp. Watercolour on vellum, 34 x 30.5 cm. Shirley Sherwood Collection
  • Windsor Great Park 1979, Acer palmatum, 'Seiryu', Watercolour on vellum, 64 x 53 cm.
It is certainly important to note that McEwen is an artist well versed in the ideology of contemporary art, who chooses to paint leaves because they provide a vehicle for the expression of his feelings about life and art'
(Fenella Crichton in exhibition catalogue for Rory McEwen, London, Taranman, 1980). 
1980 - 1982

​1980

  • Alresford 1980 Acer rubrum Watercolour on vellum, 47.5 x 45cm Exhibited New York 1982
  • East 61st Street, New York 1980 Ginkgo biloba, Watercolour on vellum,  19 x 22cm Shirley Sherwood Collection.
  • Richmond Park II 1980, Watercolour on vellum, The Hon. Jonathan Hope
  • Rutland Island, Aandaman Islands 1980 Watercolour on vellum, 59.1 x 53.3 cm Rory McEwen collection

1981
  • Border Carnation (front) 1981 Watercolour on vellum, 29.2 x 22.9cm. Signed and dated, John Stefanidis
  • Border Carnation (back) 1981, Watercolour on vellum, 29.2 x 22.9cm Signed and dated. John Stefanidis
  • Central Park (Red Oak Leaf) 1981, Quercus coccinea Watercolour on vellum 53.3 x 60.3cm Mrs Rudolph Wunderlich
  • Dead Onion VI 1980-81Watercolour on vellum 55.9 x 52.7cm
  • Drayton Gardens 1981 Linodendron tulipfera Watercolour on vellum 50.2 x 48.3cm Rory McEwen collection
  • Fritillaria caucasica 1981, Watercolour on vellum, Signed and dated, Private Collection
  • Fritallaria forbesii 1981, Watercolour on vellum, Private Collection
  • Fritillaria gibbosa 1981, Watercolour on vellum 45.1 x 33.7cm
  • Fritillaria lanceolata 1981, Watercolour on vellum, 45.1 x 33cm  Museum of Modern Art, New York
  • Fritillaria meleagris 1981, Watercolour on vellum, 29 x 19cm Private Collection [image] Also exhibited 1982 in New York, Mrs Jutta Buck
  • Fritillaria messanensis - petal  1981 , Watercolour on vellum, 25.4 x 20.3 cm Reveals detail within a petal. Exhibited 1982 New York. Victoria Monroe
  • Portman Bay, Andaman Islands 1981 Watercolour on vellum 36.8 x 26.7cm Rory McEwen collection
  • Rose (from the Panjshir Valley) 1980-81
  • Rose Petal (for JD) 1981 Signed and dated '1981'. Watercolour on vellum 31.5 x 26.5 cm. Given to Sarah Langenfield for her birthday in 1981
  • Single wild rose 1981 (Rosa canina L.) Signed and dated '1981' Watercolour on vellum 48.9 x 43.8cm. Norton Gallery, West Palm Beach, Florida
  • Three Gentians 1981 Watercolour on vellum 55.9 x 52.7cm
  • Thistle Grove 1981 Berberis sp. Watercolour on vellum 29 x 27.5cm Exhibited New York 1982
1982
  • Fritillaria messanenis 1981-82, Watercolour on vellum, 26.2 x 19.1cm. Signed and dated, Private Collection
  • Fritillaria caucasica 1982, Watercolour on vellum, Signed and dated, Private Collection
  • ​Gentian 1982 (Gentiana sino-ornata), Watercolour on vellum, 22 x 30.5 cm  Signed and dated, Private Collection
  • Leaf 1982 Watercolour on vellum 16.5 x 27.3cm. Signed and dated
​
"He had enormous curiosity about everything. He was driven to experiment, yet he always returned to the botanicals...."
"He wanted to take something of ordinary insignificance and make it universal." 
"He felt what he was doing with plants could be as modern as any other form of art."
Sam McEwen

Series of Paintings by Rory McEwen
​

It's important to note that Rory McEwen was a working artist and painted in series - particularly when he was fulfilling a commission. He also had a particular interest in heritage blooms.
​
1950s:
  • Roses - he studied original Redoute paintings purchased by his brother-in-law Frederick Hesketh
  • Old English Tulips - painted while at Cambridge and published in a book
  • Old Carnations and Pinks - commissioned to paint illustrations for Old Carnations and Pinks by Revd. Oscar Moreton. He painted on vellum.

The 1960s:
  • Auriculas - 17 large paintings painted for colour plates in anotehr book by the Revd. Oscar Moreton The Auricula, its History and Character. These should be studied by anybody wanting to paint roots!
  • Anenomes - 5 paintings
  • Tulips - the Hunt Catalogue for the First International Exhibition of Contemporary Botanical Art and Illustration in 1964 - which included two of his paintings - indicates that he was presently engaged in a series of paintings of tulip species based at the University of Cambridge Botanic Garden 

The 1970s
  • True Facts from Nature - a new minimalist series of paintings - with no shadows. They include a range of apparently random natural objects e.g. seeds, single leaves in different states of imperfection.
  • Fritillaria (6 paintings)

The 1960s-80s
  • Vegetables - typically single vegetables
  • Gentians​

The 1970s - 80s
  • Leaves - titled according to where they were found

The 1980s
  • Fritillaria (8 paintings)

Prints of work by Rory McEwen
​

Rory McEwen also made prints of his artwork.

This is a print of an onion  in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum)

​These are a couple of screen prints in the Tate Collection.
Prints of his work - approved by his Estate - are now available to buy via

Auction results
​

If you click the individual images listed in the Artnet item below you can see the artwork. If the artwork has been in exhibition you can also see images of the signature, the back of the artwork detailing gallery exhibitions

Video profile of Rory McEwen 
​

Timeline
​

This timeline is focused on Botanical Art and omits information relating to his wider interests with respect to music

CHILDHOOD (AGE 0-12)

12 March 1932 - born at Marchmont House, at Polwarth, in Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders. He was the son of Sir John Helias Finnie McEwen and Lady Bridget Mary McEwenin.

Botany and botanical art ran in his genes. He was also the great grandson (via his mother) of botanist and illustrator John Lindley of RHS and Lindley Hall and Lindley Library fame.  The lineage is
1940 - age 8, Rory McEwen began to paint flowers under the instruction of a by a French governess called Mademoiselle Philippe
"There were six boys and a girl, with Dad the middle child. Their father was an MP, who had been traumatised by his experiences in the First World War. He brought them up in a very old-fashioned way, where the family was their world, and everything happened outdoors."
Sam McEwen
SCHOOL (AGE 13-18)

1945-50 - Attended Eton. His education in painting flowers continued in the drawings schools, where he was taught by Wilfrid Blunt who was, at the time, working on his authoritative book The Art of Botanical Illustration which was published in 1950. Blunt was able to show his pupils works in the Royal Library at Windsor. McEwen was also encouraged by Blunt to look at artists featured in his book, including:​
'I sat down and painted a rose and found to my surprise that my hand had unknowingly educated itself'.
Rory McEwen - after National Service
​YOUNG ADULT 19-23

early 50s - 2 years of National Service in The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders

1953-55 - he read English at Trinity College Cambridge and performed in the "Footlights" shows - accompanying Jonathan Miller on guitar.
​
He was a virtuoso botanical painter of the highest calibre.

But he was also much more than that, a national folk hero, a laird of the lowlands, a life enhancer, a one time art editor of ‘The Spectator,’ with so many strings to his bow, charismatic and endowed with a great generosity of spirit.
Rory McEwen - Bard and Botanical Painter | Celia Lyttleton | Very Magazine
Show business and married life meant that his art simmered on the back boiler for some years until he illustrated the Auricula, a flower-book in 1964, in which he included not just the blossoms and leaves but the tangled roots too.
​Rory McEwen - Bard and Botanical Painter | Celia Lyttleton | Very Magazine
​MARRIAGE, FAMILY and MUSIC (AGE 24-33)

​1956-65 - His musical career took precedence - you can read more about this in BBC - In search of Rory McEwen. His exhibition record would suggest he paints intermittently during this time but that his main focus was his music.

1956 - sails to America

1957 - Marries Romana von Hofmannsthal and returns to the UK. They subsequently have three daughters and a son.

1962 - Has his first solo exhibition at Durlacher Brothers in New York (and presumably is noticed by the Hunt Institute of Botanical Art)

1964 - Exhibits at the very first exhibition of Contemporary Botanical Art and Illustration held at the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation - which becomes the first of their International Series of Exhibitions which have been held ever since.

1964 Exhibits in Paris.

1964: His illustrations of the Auricula published in The Auricula : its history and character by C. Oscar Moreton (limited to 500 copies). 
​
(Presumably) it becomes clear he has a future as an artist.
BEING AN ARTIST (AGE 33-39)
​
1965 - Gives up performing music to concentrate on art
Also acquires a house at 9 Tregunter Road in Chelsea which over time hosted legendary parties and informal concerts.

1965 - Meets Jim Dine, and experiments with abstract art. (His closest artist friends were Jim Dine, Robert Graham, Kenneth Armitage, David Novros, Brice Marden, Cy Twombly, Dereck Boshier, and R.B Kitaj.)

1967 - Exhibition at the Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh

1969 - exhibits his experimental art at the Edinburgh Festival.

1970 - Makes a film with German sculptor and performance artist Joseph Beuys on the Moor of Rannoch

1971 - visited Bhutan (Letter from Bhutan)
McEwen, for all his endless clubbability and shifting between activities, achieved an extraordinary amount in a painting career lasting little more than 20 years.
Daily Telegraph article
CONTEMPORARY BOTANICAL ART (AGE 40-50)
1972 - True Facts from Nature series of paintings. This artwork is a marked departure from conventional botanical art. It presented plants as they actually are rather than the conventional perfection.

1972 - Exhibition at the Redfern Gallery, London, is cited by many of today’s leading botanical artists as the show that opened the door to a more experimental approach to the depiction of plants. 

1977 - He was considered by Wilfred Blunt to be one of the most original innovators in the field of botanical draughtsmanship. McEwen painted 16 colour plates and 8 colour plates for a limited edition of Tulips and Tulipmania (2 volumes) by Wilfrid Blunt plus 8 separate colour plates (Tulips and Tulipomania. London, The Basilisk Press, 1977. Edition of 515 copies. Typically available now only via reputable auction houses).

Around this time Rory McEwen (1932–82) became patron of the Wakefield and North of England Tulip Society (which is the the sole surviving Old English Florist Tulip Society)
Late 1970s – Travels to Bhutan, Tibet, Nepal, Afghanistan and the Andaman Islands

1979 - cancer scare. Started to spend long periods on his own at the house in Scotland - painting.

1979 - 81 – Series of leaf paintings about the most important places in his life

1982 (summer) - disagnosed with terminal cancer. He had two brain tumours. The second was inoperable and pressed on his optic nerve causing him to see double. There was a prospect that the radiation treatment he received might deal with the cancer but not save the nerve. He began to empty his studo and put it up for sale.

16 October 1982 - (age 50) commited suicide by climbing a fence and throwing himself under a train at South Kensington tube station - at a discrete distance from the platform.
Reference: Biography

Exhibitions
​

We hear a lot about a few of his exhibitions. However he exhibited much more widely than people realised.

This listing is based on the one provided in the memoir written by Christian McEwan and listed below. The information has been reorganised in terms of that more typically found in an artist's CV ie. solo, group and retrospective exhibitions respectively - plus links to a gallery's website (at first mention - if available)
His posthumous 1988 Serpentine Gallery exhibition is considered one of the major turning points in the development of contemporary botanical art having a marked affect on its followers today. 
Solo Exhibitions in his lifetime
  • 1962 Durlacher Bros., New York Rory McEwen
  • 1964 Andre Weill Gallery, Paris, Rory McEwen - included the anenome paintings.
  • 1964 The Gateway Theatre, Edinburgh Festival Exhibition: Paintings by Rory McEwen
  • 1965 Durlacher Bros., New York Rory McEwen
  • 1966 Douglas & Foulis Gallery, Edinburgh Rory McEwen: Recent Paintings & Drawings
  • 1967 Byron Gallery, New York Rory McEwen
  • 1969 Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh Rory McEwen: Festival Exhibition of New Structures
  • 1970 Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh Rory McEwen: Festival Exhibition: Veils
  • 1972 Redfern Gallery, London Rory McEwen: Paintings, Drawings
  • 1972 Sonnabend Gallery, New York Rory McEwen
  • 1974 Redfern Gallery, London Rory McEwen: True Facts from Nature, Recent Paintings
  • 1975 Oxford Gallery, Oxford Rory McEwen: A Month in the Country - Watercolours
  • ​1976 Redfern Gallery, London Rory McEwen: Paintings and Watercolours
  • 1977 Oxford Gallery, Oxford Rory McEwen: Aspects of Nature
  • 1979 Taranman Gallery, London Rory McEwen
  • 1980 Nihonbashi Gallery, Tokyo Rory McEwen
  • 1981 Redfern Gallery, London Rory McEwen: Collages with Butterflies
  • 1982 Staempfli Gallery, New York Rory McEwen: Recent Paintings and Collages (gallery closed 1992)
  • 1982 Wave Hill, New York Rory McEwen: Ten Leaves, A Pepper and an Onion
Group Exhibitions in his lifetime
  • 1964 (6 April - 1 September) - Hunt Botanical Library, Pittsburgh Contemporary Botanical Art and Illustration (now known as the "1st International Exhibition of Botanical Art & Illustration" at the Hunt Institute)
  • 1964 National Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh International Botanical Congress
  • 1967 Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh Festival Exhibition: Fifty-Three Contemporary Painters
  • 1968 Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh Rory McEwen/Alan Wood
  • 1968 Kunsthalle, Dusseldorf Prospect 68
  • 1971 Scottish Arts Council Art Spectrum, Scotland
  • 1978 - ICA, London, Critic's Choice: An Exhibition of Contemporary Art selected by John McEwen' (Rory McEwen's brother)
  • 1981 Fischer Fine Art, London The Real British: An anthology of the new realism in British Painting
  • 1983 Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Pittsburgh 5th International Exhibition

Retrospective Exhibitions
  • 1988 - Rory McEwen: The Botanical Paintings - posthumous retrospective exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery (26 Nov 1988 to 8 Jan 1989) and the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh at Inverleith House. McEwen is still the only botanical artist to have been given a solo exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery (in 1988).
  • 2013 - Colours of Reality - solo retrospective exhibition at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at Kew Gardens
​

Interesting  - but little known - facts about Rory McEwen
​

  • He is directly descended from John Lindley the Botanist - whose name is memorialised in the RHS Lindley Hall where the RHS Botanical Art Show is held and The RHS Lindley Library. (see Biographical footnote above)
  • Two of Rory McEwen's paintings hung in the White House when President Kennedy was in power. (Source)​
  • Rory McEwen was the first person to play a 12 string acoustic guitar on British TV !
More Past Masters of Botanical Art & Illustration