who draw, paint and print plants and flowers
AND have been 
recognised for their excellence and mastery ​of their individual approach to botanical art and illustration

The top contemporary botanical artists and illustrators around the world
​

Criteria for inclusion

On this page I list the strict criteria used to determine the inclusion of TOP botanical artists, illustrators and photographers in the continental/country lists on this website

Top Botanical Artists and Illustrators

The links below are to the pages on this website which  list the TOP contemporary botanical artists and illustrators around the world.
(these are constantly updated) Links in the artists names are to their websites

Top Artists Working in Other Media

Artists By Media highlights meritorious artists working in
  • fine art printmaking,
  • digital botanical illustration and
  • botanical photography

PLUS Botanical Artists on Social Media

Including promising emerging artists with blogs and on Facebook 
Annie Hughes and Beverley Allen - two world class botanical artists from Australia
​- photographed in Chelsea at the preview of the exhibition to mark the 25th anniversary of the Shirley Sherwood Collection

Criteria / guidelines used to determine
TOP botanical artists and illustrators included in the lists

There are very many botanical artists - and the number grows as botanical art becomes ever more popular.
My aim is to identify the TOP botanical artists and illustrators within each country / continent.
Below are the criteria and guidelines I use to define who should be included in these lists.

My general 'rule of thumb' for who gets included in this section is that the artist has to have achieved at least one and preferably two or more of the following:
  • won an RHS Gold Medal for Botanical Illustration for a suite of a minimum of six works
  • awarded Best in Show or Best Painting at a RHS Botanical Art Show (where competition is intense amongst the best in the world)
  • received the Jill Smythies Award for Excellence in Botanical Illustration 
  • won the Margaret Flockton Award for Botanical Illustration 
  • professional botanical illustrator in good standing - employed now or in the recent past by a recognised botanical centre of excellence
  • contributed significantly to important scientific or academic botanical publications
  • won a Gold Medal and/or Best in Show for a single work at a horticulturally sponsored botanical art exhibition eg Kirstenbosch; BISCOT; Bloom
  • distinguished themselves in terms of artwork selected for inclusion in one or more major and/or notable public or private collections of botanical art (e.g. the Smithsonian Collection, Hunt Institute of Botanical Documentation, RHS Lindley Library, Shirley Sherwood etc.)
  • had work selected for the Hunt Institute's International Exhibition
The length of the entry for each artist or illustrator is determined by:
  • the extent to which a botanical artist or illustrator has distinguished themselves in terms of the identified criteria.
  • how active they are in contributing to botanical art and the botanical art community

Prestigious Awards & Top Exhibitions

Citations for each artist include references to particularly prestigious juried Awards, Exhibitions and Collections around the world. You can find more information about these on the links below.
Picture
Botanical Artists exhibiting at the RHS Show in London in October 2014. They came from all over the world as well as all over the UK and three of the artists won gold medals.
See my report on the RHS Show October 2014 - Three RHS Gold Medals for Botanical Art and a video interview
A Passion for Plants - Contemporary Botanical Masterworks
by Shirley Sherwood
Now over 15 years old (an update would be great!) however still the book that provides the definitive profile - and profiles - of leading contemporary botanical artists at the end of the twentieth century.

​It also includes excellent reproductions of artwork.
​​Paperback: 264 pages
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson; Edition (11 July 2002)

RECOMMENDED: Rated an average of 5* in both the UK and USA

BUY THIS BOOK

More contemporary botanical artists on social media
​

A number of up and coming as well as well established botanical artists are very active on social media.
Below are links to the social media pages on this website for botanical artists I know about 
  • Botanical Artists on Facebook - this page only includes artists with a Facebook Page (as opposed to an account) as this indicates serious intent in relation to their activities. Plus tutors, botanical art schools, groups and art societies
  • Botanical Art Blogs. The ones I know about are listed on this page. 
Plant: Exploring the Botanical World
It combines photographs and cutting-edge micrograph scans with watercolours, drawings, and prints 
This new book published by Phaidon highlights what it has selected as 300 of the most beautiful and pioneering botanical images ever. It brings together images from the past and present and from all manner of media that have been used to record botanical images of plants by artists, photographers, scientists, and botanical illustrators

​The major bonus of this book is that the images are large - see the video below
​​Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Phaidon Press;
First edition published: 26 Sept. 2016

BUY THIS BOOK

Past Masters
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SEE ALSO:
These are also links to lists of artists and illustrators - past and present - on Wikipedia: