The UK has a number of major Art Galleries, Museums and Botanical Gardens,
which hold botanical art exhibitions and have permanent collections of botanical art and illustration
which hold botanical art exhibitions and have permanent collections of botanical art and illustration
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This page has details about botanical art EXHIBITIONS at:
The Permanent Collections (UK) Page has information about botanical art and illustration in public and private collections |
I would advocate the holding of small exhibitions, changed every six months, of fine illustrated botanical books and original drawings. It ought not to be too difficult to find space in one of the museums in Kew Gardens; and the Natural History Museum has the materials for something even more impressive on similar lines |
Banner: Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew Gardens (16 November 2019 – 15 March 2020)
NATIONAL BOTANICAL COLLECTIONS
Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art
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Address: Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art is located in the grounds of the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew.
It is the first art gallery in the world DEDICATED to botanical art. The Shirley Sherwood Gallery celebrated its 10th anniversary in April 2018 and the 1,000,000 visitor arrived in the summer of 2018. Current or upcoming exhibitions are listed below. Past exhibitions are listed in the archive (see box) Hours: The gallery opens at 10am each day and admission closes at least 30 minutes before the closure of the garden. Details on the opening and closing times page. |
The Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Contemporary Botanical Art celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2018 - and welcomes its 1,000,000th visitor too!
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Botanical Art Exhibitions in 2021
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Zadok Ben-David: Natural Reserve
16th October 2021 - 27 March 2022 This is the first UK-based solo exhibition to incorporate new and existing works by Zadok Ben-David since 2008. Brand new and extended artworks are featured, including the stunning 360-degree installation Blackfield which is made up of more than 17,000 etched, hand-painted flowers. |
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Elegant and Enchanting
16th October 2021 - 27 March 2022 This is an exhibition of artworks by renowned Japanese botanical artists who include Asuka Hishiki, Hideo Horikoshi, Mariko Ikeda, Mieko Ishikawa and Kimiyo Maruyama. The exhibition also includes artworks by artists from China and Thailand. |
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The Association of British Botanical Artists are also currently working with Kew to provide a digital exhibit of artwork from their Autumn Show Reflections at the same time as the above two exhibitions
The Shirley Sherwood Gallery Exhibition Archive Page includes:
- A short bio of Dr. Shirley Sherwood
- a summary of PAST EXHIBITIONS at the Gallery. This includes links to reviews and images of the exhibitions.
Images of Nature Gallery | Natural History Museum, South Kensington
Address: Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD
The Museum has a modern botanical illustration collection
The Images of Nature Gallery explores how artists and scientists view the natural world through historic prints, watercolours and modern images. It has a temporary themed exhibition each year. There are usually four rotations of artworks and illustrations during the course of the exhibition. It's a little difficult to find - until you know where it is - see below.
NOTE: You don't need to pre-book to visit the Images of Nature gallery.
The Museum has a modern botanical illustration collection
The Images of Nature Gallery explores how artists and scientists view the natural world through historic prints, watercolours and modern images. It has a temporary themed exhibition each year. There are usually four rotations of artworks and illustrations during the course of the exhibition. It's a little difficult to find - until you know where it is - see below.
NOTE: You don't need to pre-book to visit the Images of Nature gallery.
The Images of Nature gallery is in the Blue Zone on the Ground Floor next to Hintze Hall.
Images of Nature: Women Artists
by Andrea Hart
by Andrea Hart
The book features specially selected artworks about nature by women from the seventeenth century onwards.
Most of the illustrations are of plants - but it also includes drawing and paintings of animals, birds and fish. These are prefaced by an essay discussing the development of scientific botanical illustration and the role of women artists in its history.
Most of the illustrations are of plants - but it also includes drawing and paintings of animals, birds and fish. These are prefaced by an essay discussing the development of scientific botanical illustration and the role of women artists in its history.
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Most of the Botanical Artists and Illustrators included in the book are not well known names. Those perhaps better known whose work is included in the book include:
Format/Pages: Paperback (112 pages) Publisher: Natural History Museum Publication date: 2014 BUY THIS BOOK Women Artists: Images of Nature
 from Amazon UKWomen Artists: Images of Nature
 from Amazon.com |
Botanical artwork on display in the Images of Nature Gallery at the Natural History Museum
Exhibitions in 2021
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The Modern Botanical Illustration Collection
Recent donations of works by Norma Gregory, Jessica Tcherepnine and Jean Webb sit alongside illustrations by artists such as Margaret Stones, Stella Ross-Craig, Claire Dalby and Olga Makrushenko. This is a regular exhibition which rotates - see this 2014 blog post Images of Nature Gallery: Women artists - another new selection of artworks Posted by Andrea Hart Dec 10, 2014 |
The Artistic Legacy of Joseph Banks
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HORTICULTURAL ORGANISATIONS
Royal Horticultural Society | London Botanical Art & Photography Show
The RHS London Botanical Art & Photography Show 2022
Venue: ??
Dates: ??
I'll include details here as soon as I have some.
Venue: ??
Dates: ??
I'll include details here as soon as I have some.
The RHS Lindley Library + RHS Gardens / Libraries
The RHS Lindley Library is open again - but has some constraints in place for visitors
NEW DIGITAL EXHIBITIONS have been introduced as a substitute for the exhibitions which would have been held in the Library.
NEW DIGITAL EXHIBITIONS have been introduced as a substitute for the exhibitions which would have been held in the Library.
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The Lindley Library only offers a small space - but it holds regular exhibitions of botanical art, some of which then tour the country to appropriate venues - including displays within the gardens - at the RHS Gardens around the country.
It also has talks and tours about its Botanical Art Collection. RHS Lindley Library also offers researcher appointments on a pre-booked basis, two days every week. |
Address: 80 Vincent Square, LONDON SW1P 2PE
Find out more about RHS Libraries exhibitions and events |
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The RHS Wisley Library
Address: RHS Hilltop – The Home of Gardening science - the first dedicated horticultural scientific centre of excellence READ MORE about the new library Days/Times: open daily, 10am to 4pm. |
The RHS Harlow Carr Library
Address: Bramall Learning Centre, RHS Harlow Carr, Harrogate Days/Times: Monday to Friday, 11am to 4pm |
Botanical Art Exhibitions organised by RHS Libraries in 2021
DIGITAL EXHIBITIONS ONLINE
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Healing Garden - Curative Powers of Common Plants | DIGITAL EXHIBITION ONLINE
This is a past exhibition which has been made available as a digital exhibition This exhibition reveals some of the fascinating histories that are hidden in plain sight in our own back gardens. Focusing on popular herbs and flowers, it will look at how our understanding of these plants has changed over time and investigate their use for healing today. |
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Portrait from Nature | DIGITAL EXHIBITION ONLINE
September 2nd - December 21st 2021 An online exhibition which explores nature printing. This fascinating printing technique uses pressed plants to recreate an image of the plant on the page. The exhibitions
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Nature print of inula flower from Ectypa vegetabilium by Christian Gottlieb Ludwig (Halle/Leipzig, 1760). RHS Lindley Collections.
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Worth a Thousand Words | DIGITAL EXHIBITION ONLINE
Gold Standard Botanical Art This is a digital version of the exhibition held in the RHS Lindley Library in 2019. The paintings are all those who have won RHS Gold Medals for their Botanical Art - and had their artwork added to the Lindley Library Collection Botanical artists from all over the world compete to win a prestigious Gold Medal at RHS Shows. This display of artworks, collected over the past 20 years, demonstrates how artists have used a variety of media and techniques to capture the essence of plants in exquisite detail. |
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Botanical Illustration from the Royal Horticultural Society: The Gold Medal Winners
by Charlotte Brooks
by Charlotte Brooks
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: For all botanical artists aspiring to enter the RHS Botanical Art Exhibition and win a Gold Medal - and for all botanical art lovers everywhere. This book makes a major contribution to both
- the recording of contemporary botanical art
- learning about how to produce top quality botanical art.
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The book comprises:
The introductory essay by Charlotte Brooks is very interesting. It introduces the RHS Collection of Botanical Illustrations and its history - and how the RHS related to botanical illustrators in the past and present. I knew some of it but not all. |
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: ACC Art Books Publication date: 26 Jun. 2019 e-Book edition: none identified All images are of illustrations added to the RHS Lindley Collection BUY THIS BOOK |
from Amazon UK
from Amazon.comBotanical Talks & Tours in 2020
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Library Tour: The Art of the Orchid
Venue: Lindley Library (next to the Lindley Hall) Dates: 7–8 April 2020 Hours: 1pm–2pm and 3pm–4pm on both days FREE with the RHS Spring Launch and Orchid Show - but places are limited. Book on the day at the Lindley Library show stall in the Lindley Hall. POSTPONED A special behind the scenes tours of its spectacular collection of orchid-inspired artworks. Tours will include a curator’s introduction to our Enduring Beauty display of RHS orchid portraits. |
Library Tour: Botanical Art at the RHS
Venue: Lindley Library (next to the Lindley Hall) Dates: Friday 17th and Saturday 18th April 2020 Hours: 1pm–2pm and 3pm–4pm on both days FREE with a show ticket for the RHS Botanical Art and Photography Show - but places are limited. Book on the day at the Lindley Library show stall in the Lindley Hall. POSTPONED A special behind the scenes tours of its remarkable collection of historic and contemporary botanical art. Tours will include a curator’s introduction to our Enduring Beauty display of RHS orchid portraits. |
The Garden Museum, Lambeth
The Garden Museum reopened in 2017 after a £7.5 million restoration project. It's held on botanical art exhibition to date (see archive) and can be expected to do so again in future.
OPEN - but Visitor numbers inside Exhibitions are limited for reasons of social distancing, so you must book a half-hour slot.
OPEN - but Visitor numbers inside Exhibitions are limited for reasons of social distancing, so you must book a half-hour slot.
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HISTORY: The Garden Museum, housed in the ancient church of St Mary at Lambeth is also the burial place of John Tradescant (c1570 – 1638), the first great gardener and plant-hunter in British history. His tomb is the centrepiece of a knot garden planted with the flowers which grew in his London garden four centuries ago.
Garden Museum Reference: The Tradescants 
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Portrait of John Tradescant the elder, attributed to Cornelis de Neve
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Botanical Art Exhibitions in 2020
These tend to focus more on gardening than botanical art - but are also of interest to botanical artists and include artists who created botanical paintings as well as paintings of gardeners.
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Elizabeth Blackadder: Favourite Flowers
19 October - 21 November 2021 Dame Elizabeth Blackadder was one of Scotland’s greatest artists, celebrated for her beguiling and lyrical paintings of flowers. This exhibition, curated with The Scottish Gallery, brings together a selection of watercolours, etchings and screenprints from throughout her life in the theme of growth, looking ahead to the renewal of life that is always around the corner in the garden. A passionate plantswoman, Blackadder’s garden provided her with rich inspiration year-round, from daffodils to autumn leaves, tulips, iris and lilies. |
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Lambeth Wilds
25 Oct 2019 - 31 Dec 2025 A large-scale permanent ceramic installation by Katie Spragg. This project aspires to celebrate and make visible these plants and communities local to the museum that may also be overlooked or hidden within our wider society. Common and favourite wild plants; dandelions, nettles, daisies, grasses, ferns modelled in porcelain will ‘grow’ above-ground from the cracks. (Note: It strikes me as a ceramic equivalent of 'Nourishment' by Michael Landy - a set of 37 lifesize etchings of weeds collected from the streets of London. You can see these, by appointment, at Tate Britain) |
Ceramic artworks by Katie Spragg
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ROYAL COLLECTIONS
The Queen's Gallery
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REOPENED: Exhibitions are held at The Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Holyrood.
The Queens Gallery periodically displays botanical paintings which form part of the Royal Collection. |
See Past Botanical Art Exhibitions in the UK for exhibitions which have included the paintings by Maria Sibylla Merian acquired by King George III
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UNIVERSITIES
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge University
The Fitzwilliam Museum has an important collection of Botanical Art due to the bequest of Henry Rogers Broughton, 2nd Lord Fairhaven, who donated his entire collection to the Museum in 1973. (See Permanent Collections) Every three years, as part of the terms of the bequest, the Fitzwilliam puts on an exhibition of botanical watercolours.
REOPENED - Coronavirus Pandemic Guidance - you need to book a free, timed ticket in advance.
REOPENED - Coronavirus Pandemic Guidance - you need to book a free, timed ticket in advance.
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Scent from Nature: Beauty's Botanical Origins
to Sunday 31st October 2021 Booking required / Free Entry The exhibition includes botanical watercolours of plants, from the permanent collection. It focuses on those used in the scent industry. These are displayed displayed alongside perfume vessels from ancient times to the 20th century. Works include those by:
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The Ashmolean / Bodleian, Oxford University
The Ashmolean periodically has exhibitions of botanical art. See also Permanent Collections.
REOPENED 10 August 2020 - Coronavirus Pandemic Guidance
REOPENED 10 August 2020 - Coronavirus Pandemic Guidance
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GO TO EXHIBITIONS IN THE UK
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