NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

Botanical art at Jonathan Cooper: 30 years exhibition - opens 12 July 2018

5/7/2018

If you're coming up to London for the RHS Botanical Art Show, why not grab a taxi or catch a bus to Chelsea - and see some more incredible artwork!

The Jonathan Cooper 30 Years Exhibition opens a week today (12 - 21 July 2018) at 'Jonathan Cooper', his Park Walk Gallery in Chelsea to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the gallery - established in 1988.

You can review the catalogue for the exhibition online.

Fiona Strickland, Celebration Papaver, Watercolour on Kelmscott vellum, 42.2 x 42.5cm

Over 30 years, Jonathan Cooper has played an important role in developing the careers of many of today’s figurative greats. His passion is to discover and promote artists demonstrating a new viewpoint within the genres of botanical, wildlife, landscape and still life.

The gallery has also been host to some major exhibitions, including; Work from botanical artists in the collection of Dr Shirley Sherwood in 2015, an exhibition in conjunction with Dr Shirley Sherwood OBE, which drew together works by contemporary botanical artists held in Dr Sherwood’s comprehensive botanical collection, the largest in the world.

This group exhibition aims to celebrate the very best of contemporary figurative painting, drawing and sculpture through the artwork of every genre by his 'gallery artists' including leading botanical artists and still life painters who paint flowers (see below)

This post contains my 72dpi web-level versions of the high resolution images of their artwork sent to me. You will only get a small insight into how impressive these works are - and why it is so much better to see them in person!

Botanical Art

The four botanical artists (in alphabetical order) are:

Beverley Allen
Kate Nessler
Rosie Sanders
Fiona Strickland

Beverly Allen, White batflower - ‘Tacca integrifolia’, Watercolour, 62cm x 57cm

Rosie Sanders 'It was the time of roses' watercolour on Arches 640gsm paper, 102 x 124cm

Still Life - with flowers

Two of the still life artists paint flowers are:

Ben Henriques
Susan Angharad Williams - who he discovered after I introduced her to him - after she won the ING Discerning Eye Prize in 2007! ;)

Ben Henriques, Potted Flower, oil on canvas, 39.4 x 52.1cm

Susan Angharad Williams, Poppies, (detail), oil on linen, 63 x 56cm

Information about the Gallery

Address: Jonathan Cooper Gallery, 20 Park Walk, Chelsea, London, SW10 0AQ
Gallery Opening Times: Mon – Fri (10 – 6.30pm); Sat (11 – 4pm) Closed Bank Holidays
Free Admission
Website: jonathancooper.co.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7351 0410
Social #jonathancooper30years
Instagram: @jonathancoopergallery
Twitter: @JCooperGallery
Facebook: @jonathancooperparkwalkgallery
The gallery is a member of SLAD (The Society of London Art Dealers), BADA (The British Antique Dealers Association) and LAPADA (The Association of Art & Antique Dealers), and regularly exhibits at international art fairs including Masterpiece, London.

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'Authenticating a Rory McEwen Painting' by Katherine Tyrrell

4/7/2018

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Volume 16 - June 2018 (2MB pdf) of the Occasional Papers published by the RHS Lindley Library is all about Botanical Art. The papers are all written as a result of original research and will interest many botanical artists and botanical art collectors and fans who have a particular interest in botanical art history.

The contents of this Volume are detailed below - and I've been sitting on the story behind my Paper for well over a year!

Volume 16 focuses on Botanical Art and garden paintings and features papers about

famous botanical artists from the past - Barbara Regina Dietzch (1706–1783) and Rory McEwen
famous botanical art collections (The Reeeve Collection)
a painter of gardens (Edith Helena Adie)
and a paper written by me titled 'Authenticating a Rory McEwen Painting'.

If you want to know more about the contents of the article, I recommend that you read the article for yourself by clicking the link above and downloading Volume 16. It will provide all the answers as to how I came to be asked about a painting reputed to be by Rory McEwen, via an authentication process which assumed nothing and involved a few months of chasing facts and a very illusive paper trail. I hasten to add there was a lot more to the story than is summarised in this Paper. Skills in audit and inspection acquired during the course of professional career also proved very useful when it came to authenticating a painting by Rory McEwen that nobody knew existed!

While neither the owner nor the purchaser of the painting, I have to say it was very exciting to play both detective and a ‘midwife’ intermediary role in the ‘birth’ of a new McEwen painting.
Katherine Tyrrell

The painting in question is now owned by the Heritage Art Collection (aka 'Lindley Collection') of the Royal Horticultural Society and is kept in the collection at the Lindley Library at Vincent Square.

Below is my photo of it the day it arrived at the Lindley Library and into the care of Charlotte Brooks who is the RHS Art Curator and Sarah McDonald, the Heritage Collections Manager who were handling the acquisition of the painting by the RHS. I'd like to thank both these ladies for their past contributions to the story behind my Paper. Also thanks to Claire Clough, the Rare Books Librarian, who organises the publication of the Occasional Papers for her guidance and editing of my Paper for publication.

Fritillaria gibbosa (1976) by Rory McEwen at the RHS Lindley Library.

Charlotte Brooks is also the author and co-author of three other Papers in Volume 16 of the Lindley Library Occasional Papers. Her Papers, which I highly recommend, also contain some wonderful images of other artworks in the Lindley Collection.

Some of you may come across Charlotte next week at the Botanical Art Seminar on the 12th July at the RHS Botanical Art Show.

I'd also like to extend my appreciation and thanks to Rory McEwen's daughter Samantha McEwen, who was incredibly helpful to the process of identifying the origins of the painting. After the acquisition, she also subsequently confirmed a very curious but little known fact that Rory McEwen is a direct descendent of John Lindley. (see below). This didn't make it into my Paper but is recorded on my About Rory McEwen page on this website and is also worth recording here.

It feels very appropriate that a painting by Rory McEwen is now part of the Lindley Collection - and I'm very appreciative of the opportunity I was given to be part of that process.

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. Links in the names below are to The Peerage online site.

John Lindley FRS (1799-1865), Professor of Botany at University College London, London, England (Wikipedia)
Nathaniel Lindley, The Rt Hon. The Lord Lindley PC KC SL (1828-1921), the Master of the Rolls, Lord of Appeal in Ordinary (Wikipedia)
The Honourable Sir Francis Oswald Lindley GCMG CB CBE, (1872-1950), Diplomat
Bridget McEwen, nee Lindley (d.1971)
Roderick (Rory) McEwen (1932-1982), Artist

Lindley Library Occasional Papers

The collections of the RHS Libraries are a unique testament to gardening. These publications seek to portray the importance of the collections and to record significant findings that derive from them

The Lindley Library Occasional Papers are published on an Annual Basis.

You can read past copies via the digital versions published as PDF files via the links on the Lindley Library Online page on the RHS website.
Details of how to purchase copies are also available on that page.

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UPDATE - British artists in the Shirley Sherwood Collection

23/11/2017

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I've made a major UPDATE to my blog post British Artists in the Shirley Sherwood Collection - a review and a timeline.

This post is about the "British Artists in the Shirley Sherwood Collection" exhibition at The Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew Gardens

Dr Shirley Sherwood speaking at the Private View for the opening of 'British Artists in the Shirley Sherwood Collection' exhibition at Kew Gardens

When I wrote my catalogue-like blog post - , Shirley Sherwood was out of the country. When she returned to the UK, she invited me to visit her because she had a number of comments she wanted to make on the content. It was a pleasure to visit Shirley twice to review this rather long blog post and clarify matters where I'd guessed and listen to stories about an artist or how a painting was bought.

We're both very keen on:

creating a record of exhibitions relating to the Collection (you can see my archive of the exhibitions to date in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery on this webste)
making sure that all information is accurate (some of my comments in the original post were informed guesses).

IMPORTANTLY - and for the very first time - this blog post now lists the number of paintings by each artist in the collection. I've also updated it with the comments she asked me to include and I've also added in some additional images.

I was absolutely amazed - as I am sure you will be - by how many paintings by leading British botanical artists she now owns!

My next job is another catalogue-like blog post about the current exhibition Abundance: Seeds, Pods and Autumn Fruits from the Shirley Sherwood Collection - complete with pics of some of the paintings and some of the artists. I've had some help from Shirley with this one too! :)

Speech by the Director of Kew Gardens at the Private View, 27 March 2017

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British Artists in the Shirley Sherwood Collection - a review and a timeline

24/8/2017

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The "British Artists in the Shirley Sherwood Collection" exhibition at The Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew Gardens finishes on 17th September 2017. If you haven't been to see it yet I strongly recommend you do so as it includes some iconic work by British Botanical Artists.

[NOTE: Since writing this post I've had the opportunity to review it with Shirley Sherwood personally and it has now been

UPDATED for her comments
PLUS the number of artworks by each artist in the collection is now indicated after their name (the first time they are mentioned) if there is more than one]

L to R: 3 paintings by Rory McEwen; 6 paintings by Coral Guest and 3 paintings by Pandora Sellars

I've now seen the exhibition four times and it might seem a bit odd to be doing a review so late in the day, except I've already written about it in:

British Artists in the Shirley Sherwood Collection - an exhibition at Kew
British Botanical Artists - photographed with their paintings - from the evening of the Private View back in March; and
List of artists exhibited in 'British Artists in Shirley Sherwood Collection' - this includes all the artists plus links to their websites and a note of their artwork in the exhibition

Since I wrote these, the Gallery has also included British Artists in the Shirley Sherwood Collection.pdf (PDF)on the website - which I urge everybody to download as this is the ONLY formal record of this exhibition (there is no catalogue). It also includes thumbnails of all the paintings in the exhibition.

It has not been possible to hang more than a small proportion of ‘my’ British artists here as I now have 330 works by 86 painters and so I have had to be fiercely selective.

On my last visit I took my time and went round very slowly, looking at the artwork closely. I found that I began to detect themes within the collection which I had missed earlier.

In a way it's a story of a collection, a collector and the development of botanical art in the UK over more than a quarter of a century of collecting.

Hence this post is going to be something of a timeline or retrospective of the collection which started in 1990. It's by no means the story of the whole collection of British artists as this now includes 330 works by 86 painters.

There are three botanical artists in the exhibition who have an artwork on display which was acquired or commissioned in every decade to date. They are Brigid Edwards, Coral Guest and Rory McEwen - who are all members of the small group of what Dr Sherwood refers to as her 'core artists'.

This post is interspersed with comments from Dr Sherwood and listings of the artists whose work is featured in each decade.

In relation to dates:

the date before the name is the date it was acquired by Dr Sherwood.
The date after the name is the date it was completed.

In relation to the paintings:

UPDATE: the number of paintings in bold after the name is the total number held in the collection [Note this is an update since this post was first published]
The title of a painting in the exhibition is listed in the decade to which it relates (hence an artist may be listed in more than one decade)
You can also read more about leading British Botanical Artists in my page dedicated to them on this website.

Where an artist is exhibiting elsewhere in the UK currently or in near future and/or teaching I'm also sharing the information in this post.

All quotations are by Shirley Sherwood (from the pdf record of the exhibition) unless otherwise indicated.

WARNING - THIS IS A VERY LONG POST. I suggest you find a comfy place to sit now and if you like finding out about botanical art and artists then you may be some time reading it!

The First Decade 1990-1999

Five paintings by Pandora Sellars - including the very first painting in the collection on the right

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Oak Spring Garden Foundation on Google Arts & Culture

30/7/2017

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The Oak Spring Garden Foundation has made some of its collection available online via a collaboration with Google Arts & Culture. This will be of great interest to those (like me) who are enthusiastic about the history of botanical art.

The Foundation was created by Bunny Mellon who was one of the richest women in the world and who died in 2014 age 103. (Learn more about Bunny Mellon)

The Foundation's collection comprises a collection of over 16,000 objects, including rare books, manuscripts, and works of art dating back to the 14th century
these mainly relate to horticulture, landscape design, botany, natural history and voyages of exploration
It's been described as one of the most compelling horticultural repositories in the nation
The foundation is open to researchers by appointment only.

Oak Spring Farm was the former home of the Mellons and comprised a 4,000-acre estate, in Upperville, Virginia. The farm has now been sold along with other items from her estate

However, her prized collection of books, manuscripts and art on plants, gardens, and landscapes is now housed in The Oak Spring Garden Library within a 263-acre estate which helps to perpetuate her memory.

Oak Spring Garden Foundation on Google Arts & Culture

OSGF is dedicated to inspiring and facilitating scholarship and public dialogue on the history and future of plants, including the culture of gardens and landscapes and the importance of plants for human well-being.

A small sample of the images now available to view on Oak Spring Garden Foundation on Google Arts

The display on the Oak Spring Garden Foundation Page on Google Arts & Culture includes:

166 items - of which 127 items relate to plants (with a lot of original watercolours from A Curious Herbal by Elizabeth Blackwell)
2 exhibits - widescreen videos about women botanical artists and related items in the collection (Note: The video while impressive on the website is much, much better on Google Arts & Culture and my 27" screen - I very much recommend you take a look!)

The first video Women Botanical Artists includes:

Maria Sibylla Merian 1647-1717
Johanna Helena Herolt 1668-1721 (Merian's daughter)
Barbara Regina Dietzsch (1706-1783)
Elizabeth Blachrie Blackwell (1707-1758)
Lydia Byam (1722-unknown) - a British botanical watercolourist living on Antigua
Lise Cloquet (1788-1860) a French botanical painter influenced by Redoute
Lady Anna Brassey nee Allnutt (1838-1887)

Women Artists Part 2 covers:

Anna Maria Hussey (1805-1853) aka Mrs Thomas Jonathan Hussey - a British mycologist, who focused on researching and painting fungi
Henrietta Maria Moriarty (unknown - early 19th century) - who produced Henrietta Moriarty’s Viridarium Fifty Plates of Green-house Plants, Drawn and Coloured from Nature. with Concise Descriptions, and Rules for their Culture (1806)
Sarah Matilda Parry (fl. 1818-1850) illustrated Fruits from the Garden of Summer Hill
Dorothea Eliza Smith (1804-1864) - painted in Peru and illustrated the Fruits of Lima
Dame Anne Hamilton (unknown) - an obvious admirer of Ehret
Lady Frances Howard (unknown)
Elizabeth and Margaret Wharton (unknown)

Research at the Oak Spring Garden Foundation

Beginning in January 2018 we are able to offer free overnight accommodation on the Oak Spring estate for bona fide scholars wishing to study material in the Oak Spring Garden Library collections. Since we are only able to accommodate a limited number of scholars at any given time, we will probably need to prioritize our visitors based on timing and topics.
Work with the Oak Spring Garden's Collection

If you'd like to visit, you can find the Oak Spring Garden Foundation at 1776 Loughborough Lane, Upperville, VA 20184, USA.

You need to send a brief proposal

outlining your interest in visiting the Oak Spring Garden Library,
the goal of your work as it relates to plants, gardens and landscapes
complete the short online form

You can also find the form and other ways of engaging with OSGF at www.OSGF.org/opportunities.

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'The Artist & the Botanical Collector' at the Museum of Sydney

7/8/2016

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The Artist & the Botanical Collector: the Lost Works of Lovegrove & Bäuerlen - opens at the Museum of Sydney on 13 August 2016 until 20 November 2016.

The Artist & the Botanical Collector explores the partnership between

amateur Shoalhaven based artist Gertrude Lovegrove (1859-1961) and
botanical collector William Bäuerlen (1840- 1917)

Their joint endeavour was ambitious. They had ambitious plans to produce a multi-part publication in the late 19th century covering the native flora of New South Wales.

Kennedia prostrata, watercolour by Gertrude Lovegrove, c1891

Part 1 of the book Wildflowers of New South Wales by William Baeuerlen and Gertrude Lovegrove was published in Sydney by Angus & Robertson in January 1891. However it was only 12 pages long.

The link in the title of the book (and the image) is to the digitised version of the book in the Digital Collection of the National Library of Australia

The digitised version of "Wild Flowers of New South Wales" in the National Library of Australia

It has been intended that The Wild Flowers of New South Wales it would comprise 25 parts, part 1 of was published in Sydney. However further parts never came to fruition and there are now only a handful of copies of the first part are known to be held in Australian public collections.

The exhibition will feature

a collection of over 30 original wild flower watercolours by Lovegrove, that she prepared as illustrations for the lost Bäuerlen publication. These paintings are now held in Sydney Living Museums’ Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection at The Mint.
a brief survey of the range of wild flower publishing in colonial Australia.
an exploration of the connections of Lovegrove and Bäuerlen to Meroogal, a Sydney Living Museums property at Nowra on the NSW south coast.

NOTE: A substantial part of Bäuerlen's collections are held at:

Links: Encyclopedia of Australian Science - Biographical Entry: Baeuerlen, William (1840 - 1917)

Visit the Exhibition:

Where: Museum of Sydney on the site of first Government House (Cnr Bridge and Phillip streets, Sydney)
Admission: Free with Museum of Sydney entry (Adult $10 | Concession/child (under 15) $5 | Family $20 | Members free)
Transport: Public transport recommended. Museum of Sydney is one block back from Circular Quay which is serviced by trains, buses and ferries.

More Botanical Art Exhibitions in Australia

You can see more about other botanical art exhibitions in Australia on this page on this website Botanical Art Exhibitions in Australia and New Zealand

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Brazil Exhibition tour with Dr Shirley Sherwood

7/6/2016

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Dr. Shirley Sherwood with Margaret Mee's Philodendron, Rio Negro Amazonas. Watercolour on paper (640 - 470) - part of the Shirley Sherwood Collection (photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell)

There are two upcoming exhibition tours of the Brazil – a powerhouse of plants, Margaret Mee and her legacy exhibition with Dr Sherwood on

30th June at 11am and
28th July at 2.30pm

Event details: The tour will last a maximum of 45 mins
Venue: Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art
Price: Included with entry to the Gardens, however booking is essential.
To book a place on a tour please email shirleysherwoodgallery@kew.org or call us on 020 8332 3622.

If you're wondering where the page for the second tour is, there isn't one as yet. However the Gallery Manager of the The Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art sent me both dates so you can be assured both are "definite".

The image above is of Dr Sherwood at the Preview. She's standing next to Philodendron painted with the background of the Amazon Forest. Margaret Mee painted the forest as a background towards the end of her life during her campaign to save it from destruction by the loggers.

You can find out more about:

About Margaret Mee - on About Margaret Mee the page I've dedicated to her on this website
About Shirley Sherwood - on a page on this website devoted to an ARCHIVE of Shirley Sherwood Gallery Exhibitions (2008-2015)

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