NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

RHS London Botanical Art & Photography Show - Pros, Cons and the Future

1/10/2021

This is my final round-up of the RHS London Botanical Art and & Photography Show 2021 and some pondering on the pros and cons of this year's change of venue and staging. Plus
further thoughts on what I'd like see in 2022 and beyond in relation to:

Change of venue
Selection of exhibits
Horticulture & Botany
Presentation
Narrative & labels
Sales
Where to go from here?

Previous blog posts include:

Gallery 1 of the RHS Botanical Art Show 2021 at the Saatchi Gallery

The first really big bonus was that at least we got a show this year, after the very sad cancellation of last year's show.

MANY THANKS and cheers for the effort must go to the Picture Committee, RHS staff and the Show Team for finding a venue and making it happen - in the context of the total unknown of how many more lockdowns we would have! Bear in mind many of these people have been on furlough and/or working from home for much of the time since the start of first lockdown in March 2020! So very done on pulling it off.

It's also good the the exhibition organisers thought about the implications of the exhibitor not being able to travel in person and consequently reorganised how the show worked and was hung to take account of this. On the whole this was probably the best compromise - and some of my 'gritty' comments relate to execution rather what very much seems like the best option in a difficult situation.

It was indeed very evident that a LOT of botanical artists and illustrators had pulled out from exhibiting.

A show all about scale. Firstly, the scale of the problem, two years delayed by the pandemic. This would normally be almost 600 works. The final tally came in at only 205. Now a new question of scale 91 botanical art works in two large rooms and 114 photographs in one room.

Quotations come direct from exhibitors or former exhibitors and/or people who have seen the Show. I'm very grateful for the feedback I've had - whether or not included in this post - as it has helped me write this post.

2021 Show - Pros & Cons

CHANGE OF VENUE - Pros & Cons

The Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea

PROS

The show moved from the RHS Lindley Hall in Victoria (great for connections to all the train stations) to the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea. The venue, while not in central London, was relatively easy to access by public transport.
People commented on how the show looked like a proper art exhibition in a proper art gallery - and I guess this is what the aim was.
For all those who like their viewing art in almost complete silence, it was a VERY quiet environment.

CONS

A Show in its own right?
- Others have suggested, and I agree, that by locating the Show in Chelsea at the same time as the Chelsea Flower Show, this effectively made it subservient to the main event - and a bit of a sideshow.
- I don't think this ought to be the aim for this show. It's not an "add on". Given the numbers it has attracted in the past - without any other show running at the same time - it's already proved that it has become an important event in its own right (at least on the art side).
The light in the Galleries was absolutely awful in my opinion. Everything in the exhibition seemed very subdued.
- Exhibits were hung on light grey walls above a light grey floor and lit by lighting which was masked - but the luminance levels were far too low in every gallery. This then reduced the contrast and subdued all the colours and tones in the artwork and photos. Not quite a "grey show" but definitely heading in that direction.
- When I got my photos home and looked at them in Levels I couldn't quite believe just how much lightness and brightness was missing. I've photographed in art galleries all over London and this was the worst experience I've had for a very long time. (NOTE: None of the photos in my blog posts have been posted as taken - they'd just have looked very, very grey)
- The reality is that no artwork which is watercolour on paper is going to get hurt by two weeks in a decently lit gallery. We ought to be assuming that artists exhibiting at exhibitions like this are aware of archival issues and use lightfast paints.
As I found out, I don't think a lot of thought was given by the Gallery to disabled access - and none to proper signposting for those of us who have problems with changes in levels.

What I'd like to see in 2022 and beyond

I'd very much like to see

a return to a two day Winter Show - in February - in the RHS Lindley Hall when there's minimal competition for people's time and it's "offseason" for transport and accommodation
a two day show permits people to find the time to fly in to be with their exhibit. Which means visitors get to meet the artists who produce the work
the Lindley Hall is a venue which is even better for people who have long journeys.

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Review: RHS London Botanical Art Show

26/9/2021

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I visited the RHS London Botanical Art and Photography Show last week. It felt very odd to be visiting some four days after it opened when I'm normally be there from preview night to chucking out time on the second day of the exhibition in the Lindley Hall.

However the exhibition was cancelled in 2020. It then became clear that the 2021 exhibition might not be held as planned - and a decision was taken to move it to the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea so it was held at the same time as the Chelsea Flower Show nearby - which was being held much later in the year - in September instead of May.

I'm going to comment more about the changes in the exhibition and implications for both the art and photography show in the next post.

I've also written about:

the RHS Botanical Art Awards 2021
my Review: The RHS Botanical Photography Show AND
the Highgrove Florilegium Show - also held at the same time as the RHS Chelsea Show. See my blog post The Highgrove Florilegium on splendid display in Chelsea. I also saw this on Tuesday at The Garrison (Guards) Chapel, Chelsea Barracks (link to location on Google Maps)

THIS POST focuses on the 15 exhibits in the exhibition and my thoughts on them and their characteristics that earn them different coloured medals.

Four paintings from Francesca Ross's excellent Gold Medal winning exhibit of the development of the flower and fruits of Tomatoes

Facts about the RHS Botanical Art Show in London

First some facts.....

What's the same as usual

All exhibitors have applied to the Royal Horticultural Society to exhibit after

either a selection process to get approval to exhibit
or previously winning a medal in an exhibition.

Artists then have a period of five years to submit their artwork after gaining approval or a medal. You can read more about this on my page dedicated to RHS Botanical Art Shows.

Medals awarded for the artwork hung in the show are determined by a Panel of Judges (see #5 How botanical artwork is judged at the RHS Show on my dedicated page) who comprise experienced botanical artists, botanists and/or horticulturalists and RHS officers who aim to moderate standards across the RHS as a whole. I've known an artist in the past who found her exhibit being judged by a panel which included the UK's leading horticultural expert on her plant!

There are four types of Royal Horticultural Society Medal available for awards to exhibits. These are: Gold; Silver-Gilt; Silver and Bronze. It's not unknown for no award to be made - as has happened this year.

In general it is assumed that those approved to exhibit are ALL capable of submitting an exhibit which could at least win a silver medal.

When judging, exhibits of groups of drawings or paintings are assessed first and foremost as botanical illustration i.e. NOT just 'nice paintings of flowers'.

What you need to know about why this exhibition is different

Gallery 1 of the RHS Botanical Art Show at the Saatchi Gallery

This year there has been

a change of venue - from the RHS Lindley Hall to the Saatchi Gallery
a change of process for presenting the exhibit and hanging the show. This was based on the fact that a number of exhibitors might not be able to travel. So the Saatchi Gallery have organised framing and text label and the hang - which has not been without problems. I'll comment more on this tomorrow.
the dates of the exhibition have been extended. It's now open for three weeks until Saturday 9th October 2021

However.....

All aspects of the the display are considered, including the technical skill of the artist, the botanical and horticultural content of the picture and the nature and scale of the project as a whole. Only an artist who has excelled in all areas is awarded a Gold Medal.
Panel explaining the process in the exhibition

So, in effect, the scaled marking system for the exhibits MUST have changed this year since artists did not have control over or the final say on

how their exhibit was presented and hung and
what words accompanied it.

Of which more in the next post.

A Commentary (Part 3)

Exhibits which impressed me

Exhibits can impress at different levels:

as a unique exhibit of a type not presented before;
from a distance OR up close and with a magnifier out AND/OR both!
the content from a botanical or horticultural perspective;
the ambition of the project;
innovation e.g. new plant, new way of presenting a plant in artwork;
when you find out about the background to the exhibit - and the years / work which has gone into it.

In this instance, this last aspect will receive further comment in my final post due to the extraordinarily BRIEF narrative accompanying each exhibit. Background to an exhibit was noticeable by its almost complete and total absence.

How easy it is to tell what is an RHS Gold Medal exhibit?

ALL the Gold Medal winning exhibits stood out from the rest. Some of the reasons are:

Mainly due to the amount of botanical / horticultural content - matched by excellent artistic skills.
They also often read well as a project on the wall (i.e. never ever lose sight of what your exhibit looks like as a whole).
It's not uncommon for them to include a lot of leaves which have NOT been painted in a formulaic way using only one or two greens!

The way to develop an eye for an RHS Gold medal winning exhibit is to look at them without knowledge of the medal result - and try and work it out for yourself.

What I normally like to do when reviewing exhibits at the Preview (in the Lindley Hall) before medals have been announced (in the normal way of things) is to try and second guess which exhibits will get a Gold. My track record is about 90% correct. This time I knew some of the results before I visited the exhibition. Nevertheless I stood in the middle of the two galleries and looked around at the exhibits - without looking at the medal certificates. What proved to be very interesting this year was working out why some very impressive Silver Gilt exhibits had NOT got a Gold Medal.

RHS GOLD MEDAL EXHIBITS

Kimiko Miyahara's exhibit Endemic Plants of Japan's Ogasawara Islands, A Unesco World Heritage Site (below) was simply stunning and very worthy of a Gold Medal and the Best Botanical Art Exhibit.

She has painted six different plants in one location - thus portraying habitat / flora in the traditional botanical sense of some of the greats of the past. A number of her paintings are also identified as vulnerable on International Red Lists - so each is a botanical record in the tradition of the best botanical art i.e. creating a record of a plant which is rare or might disappear.

Her paintings are hugely complex and are also positively stuffed full of detail - but still read extremely well - see one example below. They are, for me, the type of painting which you can spend a very long time looking at.

I also really liked her somewhat stylised way of painting. I've no problems whatsoever with style so long as the painting is botanically accurate.

RHS BEST BOTANICAL ART EXHIBIT AND GOLD MEDAL: 'Endemic Plants of Japan's Ogasawara Islands, A Unesco World Heritage Site' by Kimiko Miyahara

Part of RHS Gold Medal Exhibit by Kimiko Miyahara "Clinostigma savoryanum" (Rehd. et Wills) Moore et Fosberg IUCN Red List (Vulnerable) August 2018 Watercolour on paper

When I think back to the 2021 exhibition in years to come, I think the exhibit that I will remember most - and in some detail is Francesca Ross's exhibit Tomatoes: Flower and Fruit Development.

RHS GOLD MEDAL: "Tomatoes: Flower and Fruit Development" by Francesca Ross

It' a unique exhibit - I don't think I've ever seen an exhibit about tomatoes before and certainly not one which approached the topic in this way. It positively bounced off the wall at me and shouted "GOLD!". It's also just one of those exhibits which you keep coming back to. I loved:

the development of the Tomato in size
the consistency of treatment within in each painting which lent unity to the exhibit across the six artworks - despite the differing sizes
the fact each had a profile, a top down view, dissections and a series re. flower development providing a complete botanical picture not just of each exhibit but how tomatoes have developed over time as they migrated and mutations developed.
the painting of the dissected tomatoes was splendid (see below)
the painting of the small dissections of the flowers (see below) reminded me very much of Francis Bauer's style and format. It's an excellent one to emulate.

Such a very great pity that

the text for this exhibit was edited - about which more in the next post and
two of the paintings have been hung out of order. (Francesca commented on an earlier post) I'm guessing it's the last two as I know the story of the whole exhibit is about mutations caused the tomato to grow over time - which is somewhat lost when they're not in the right order and the overarching theme is not mentioned in the text.

Francesca wrote a very good article about her previous RHS Exhibit and no doubt will do the same again for her excellent tomatoes - and the real story behind the exhibit.

Part of Solanum lycopersicum 'Gigantomo' - one of the six paintings in Francesca Ross's RHS Gold medal winning exhibit of tomatoes

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RHS Botanical Art Awards 2021

19/9/2021

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This is all about who won which colour RHS Medal at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2021 at the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea.

I'm not going to the show until next week. I'm having to limit outings with my very painful ankle and use my rollator so I can always get a seat! Maybe I'll see you there?

If you're thinking of visiting the show see my post from yesterday Botanical Art Exhibitions (Autumn 2021) in London

First, a commentary....

When I looked at the Awards and who had won what, a number of thoughts occurred

Let's not forget that this is the show which was postponed from last year. The exhibitors have had to wait 15 months to see their artwork up for inspection by the Picture Panel who judge the artwork.
the number of artist exhibitors has reduced dramatically - to 15 - and the number of photography exhibits has dramatically increased to 19. I hope this isn't going to be repeated in future years, given the amount of time and effort which goes into artwork exhibits (Not to diss the photographers - but there's few who spend as much time on their exhibits as the artists do!)
the number of countries represented in the show is much reduced - and I think travel restrictions are very likely to be at least partly responsible for this. There are no exhibitors from Australasia, Africa, Asia (outside Honk Kong and Japan - I think), Europe (except one) and South America.
the number of Gold Medals are back to a 'normal' number statistically speaking - as per a normal distribution curve. i.e. I'd commented on the huge numbers of Gold Medals in the past. I thought there were too many and wondered why. I got my answer as to why we were back to normal when I looked at the names of the exhibitors.....
Many of the exhibitors are completely NEW to the RHS Botanical Art Show. So far as I am aware there are only three previous Gold Medal winners exhibiting - and only one of those won their medal in London. There in, I think, lies the answer.
- When you have people who have won a Gold Medal before, they're more likely to win again. When you've got lots of previous Gold Medal winners coming back to exhibit again - as we had in the last show - then the numbers tend to jump. But there must come a point when you need to ensure new artists have the chance to win a Gold Medal....
- That said, two of the Gold Medals were won at Malvern. I have heard people opine in the past that it's easier to win a Gold Medal at Malvern than it is in London. Personally I think it's more likely to be related to the quality of the exhibit - however there is much less competition at Malvern - and an exhibit in London has much more 'context' for deciding the colour of medals. It's entirely possible it makes a difference.
- I'd be interested to see what might happen if those selecting artists for an exhibition introduced a rule that at least 50% in every show must be new exhibitors who meet the 'Silver Medal' standard of those applying to exhibit.
I very much like the fact we can all get to see lots of new botanical art from people who are new to the RHS Botanical Art Show. I'm left wondering how many of them are well known to others - as a number of the names are completely new to me.
Those who are repeat exhibitors are typically those previously winning a Gold or Silver Gilt Medal. It has occurred to me previously that being selected to exhibit again at the RHS Botanical Art Show may come to depend in future on the colour of the medal you win at your first outing. It provides every incentive to people to ensure that their first exhibit is an excellent one!
Finally - and this might seem an odd comment to make, but I'll make it anyway. I'm pleased to see that a normal pattern of medal awards has been reinstated at the other end of the spectrum. I'd commented in the past to Judges that I thought one exhibit didn't deserve any colour of medal - despite the fact it got a bronze. (I think the words I'd used was I doubted if it would pass muster for access to a Diploma Course). To me, the medals MUST always be judged on the actual exhibit as presented - artwork, labelling, narrative etc - and emphatically NOT on the fact that an individual has been deemed worthy of showing at the show. In other words - getting permission to exhibit should never equate to an automatic bronze medal as a minimum. For me, there are ONLY two good reasons for "no award made":
- the exhibit failed to satisfy the technical criteria for the exhibit - through no fault of the artist (this has happened in the past when one artwork was damaged in transit and hence a full set was not exhibited)
- the exhibit failed to satisfy the judges as to merit for a medal of any colour. It happens in the Show Gardens and Plant displays - and it should also happen in the Art and Photography shows.

Number of Medals

You can download the Botanical Art Awards 2021 list (138kb pdf). There are 15 artists/exhibits and 14 medals in total:

5 Gold Medals ( UK x 2; Japan x 2; Portugal x 1)
7 Silver Gilt Medals
2 Silver Medals
0 Bronze Medals
1 No Award

For the record, I'm only covering the names of those who received a medal below.

Below are the names of the medal winners - plus a short profile where I can find a website!
I'll add images in when I get back from the show. (I've got a different strategy this year due to limited time on my feet and walking!)
At present, I'm linking to pics of exhibits where I can find them online

Major Botanical Art Awards

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Esmee Winkel wins Margaret Flockton Award 2021

7/6/2021

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Notoleptopus decaisnei, Esmee Winkel, The Netherlands

Esmee Somers Winkel has won the First Prize in the 17th Margaret Flockton Award 2021. The award comes with $5,000 but is most prized for its highly prestigious nature within the scientific botanical illustration community.

Esmee is a a professional scientific illustrator working in the Netherlands. This First prize follows on from

the Second Prize she won in 2017,
the Jill Smythies Award (2014) awarded by the Linnean Society and
her three RHS Gold Medals (2013, 2016 and 2018).

This post covers: (in order)

About the Award - why it is prestigiousâ€‹ and what's important in a winning illustration.
â€‹About the two prizewinners and three artists whose illustrations were highly commended PLUS Judges comments
About the Exhibition at the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney
How you can see the images online - and view the video presentation.â€‹

The Margaret Flockton Award

Margaret Flockton Award is unique amongst international art awards, focusing exclusively on contemporary scientific botanical illustration, as distinct from botanical art RBG Sydney Flickr Album Margaret Flockton Award 2021

The Margaret Flockton Award is specifically about scientific botanical illustration. It's prestigious because it is the ONLY award dedicated to the excellence and expertise demonstrated by those who produce botanical illustrations to an exactly scientific standard for botany and botanists

As a result, entries are typically:

submitted by professional botanical illustrators - or those aspiring to be one.
related to plates produced for the record and for scientific botanical publications.

This competition and exhibition is International. Scientific botanical illustrators from around the world are invited by the curators of the exhibition at the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney to:

digitally submit scientifically accurate taxonomic illustrations
i.e. highly detailed black and white drawings primarily undertaken in pen and ink, pencil or digitally rendered.
that accompany a published taxonomic description of the plant,
with the drawing clearly highlighting all of the distinctive features of the species.

REVIEW my dedicated page for The Margaret Flockton Award for Excellence in Scientific Botanical Illustration

The Criteria used to judge the Award are listed below:

Accurate interpretation and portrayal of the plant characters and diagnostic features highlighted in the botanical description
Technical merit
Artistic merit
Composition
Reproducibility

See A Guide to Scientific Illustration (on the Margaret Flockton Award page on the RBG website - at the bottom) for more information on judging criteria.

Reproducability is extremely important, because the nature of our work is that it is reproduced so anything too delicate can be lost on reduction.
â€‹Composition will usually be the thing that wins a work. If you can make a composition sing in terms of the way it tells the story of the plant you're doing well.
Comments by Lesley Elkan from the Facebook Live Event

While other awards will look for accurate interpretation and portrayal plus technical and artistic merit, this is the only award which specifically considers illustration from the perspective of the scope for reproduction in scientific publications (i.e. the whole purpose of the illustration is to communicate to a wide community of interest via printed or digital matter).

The Judges for the 2020 Award were all from the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney.

Catherine Wardrop - RBG&CP Botanical Illustrator and Margaret Flockton Award Curator
Lesley Elkan - Botanical Illustrator
Dr Kerry Gibbons, RBG&DT Flora Botanistâ€‹

Apparently they had 25 illustrations two days before the deadline and on the Monday morning they had 103! Next year the Judges would appreciate receiving illustrations earlier if that's at all possible! :)

About the Prizewinners

I photographed Esmee Winkel with her RHS Gold Medal scientific botanical illustrations in 2016 - just after she'd given me her best tips for cleaning Rotring technical pens!

FIRST PRIZE ($5,000) Esmee Winkel, The Netherlands - for Notoleptopus decaisnei (ink)
(see illustration at the top of this post)

Esmee's illustrated has been awarded the First Prize for its exacting skilful technique and perfectly balanced composition. The clarity of the strong line is complemented by the perfectly rendered elements, with a concise stipple techniques used only where required to convincglu describe form. Line weight is also used to describe shadows and depth. The illustration reveals the life cycle and key features of
â€‹Judge's Comments

My commentary: I'm reading that as a lot of appreciation and applause for

a "less is more" approach to botanical illustration and
demonstrable and refined expertise in the full range of available techniques!

â€‹Plus note the smart move of illustrating an Australian plant!

Esmee Winkel is a professional scientific illustrator who specialises in botanical illustration and works as a Scientific illustrator and Botanical artist for the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden and at the Hortus Botanicus, Leiden in the Netherlands.

She has previously won second prize in the Margaret Flockton Award 2017.

Other prizes she has won include

2016: the Botanical Illustrator Award for Excellence in Scientific Botanical Art from the American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA)
2016: a second RHS Gold Medal for her display of drawings of rare and endangered orchids in 2016 (see Interviews with RHS Botanical Art Gold Medallists - from the UK and Europe - and video below)
2014: the Jill Smythies Award for excellence in botanical illustration by the Linnean Society
2013: an RHS Gold Medal in 2013 for a set of meticulous and well-designed pen and ink drawings of Leguminosae (see Interviews with RHS Botanical Art Gold Medal Winners)
2012 - a BISCOT Gold Medal in 2012

You can read more about her in About Esmee Winkel, botanical illustrator at Naturalis

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Alice Tangerini awarded the 2020 Jill Smythies Award by The Linnean Society

6/6/2021

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The 2020 Jill Smythies Award (a medal and £1,000) to a botanical artist for outstanding, diagnostically relevant, published illustrations was this week given to the American botanical illustrator Alice Tangerini.

I think I'm correct in saying this is only the second time the award has been made to an American botanical illustrator. Bobbi Angell received the Award in 2006.

Some might argue this award is a tad overdue given the fact Alice Tangerini has worked as the Staff illustrator in the Department of Botany at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, since 1972! i.e. next year she will have been there for 50 years!

The official citation reads as follows.

For the excellence of her depictions of plants for scientific use, including the detailed portrayal of their diagnostic characteristics, Alice Tangerini is our 2020 winner of the Jill Smythies Award. In addition to illustrating new species, Alice has illustrated multiple taxa from the same group for the same publication, such that the details of the drawings can be used to distinguish the species.

Since 1972, Alice has made diagnostic illustrations for over 1,000 plant species in pen and ink, graphite, and more recently in digital media, for a variety of publications. Using mainly herbarium specimens as her resource material, she has prepared these illustrations to portray the species in a realistic manner with necessary reconstruction to remove the artefacts of drying and physical damage. Significant taxonomic characters have been enlarged with the aid of a microscope to facilitate their use in species descriptions.

Over the years, the detail and accuracy of her drawings and examinations of the specimens have resulted in authors changing descriptions, based on details observed by Alice that had escaped the botanists’ notice. For instance, her detailed examination of a proposed new species of bromeliad resulted in the production of a newly written, enhanced description. As a result, the authors, Lyman B. Smith and Harold Robinson, decided to name the new species Navia aliciae in her honour. Such collaboration with scientists in describing a taxon is the hallmark of exemplary botanical illustration.
The Jill Smythies Award 2020

Below you can READ MORE about:

The Jill Smythies Award
Alice Tangerini

About The Jill Smythies Award

The Jill Smythies Award of £1000 and a medal is made to a botanical artist for outstanding illustrations.

The Linnean Society of London is the world’s oldest active biological society. Founded in 1788 by Sir James Edward Smith (1759–1828), who was its first President. The Society takes its name from the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) whose botanical, zoological and library collections have been in its keeping since 1829.

The Society aims to promote the study of all aspects of the biological sciences.

Through awarding medals and grants, the Society acknowledges and encourages excellence in all of these fields.

A medal and £1000 to a botanical artist for outstanding, diagnostically relevant, published illustrations.

Established in 1986 by the late Mr B E Smythies FLS, in honour of his wife, the late Florence Mary Smythies ("Jill"), whose career as a botanical artist was cut short by an accident to her right hand.

Awarded to a botanical artist in recognition of excellence in published illustrations in aid of plant identification, with the emphasis on botanical accuracy and the accurate portrayal of diagnostic characteristics.

Read more about the Award and review the listing on past winners on my dedicated page The Jill Smythies Award.

About Alice Tangerini

Alice Tangerini was born in 1949.

In 1972, she was hired as a Staff Illustrator for the Department of Botany at the National Museum of Natural History by American botanist Lyman Bradford Smith. Prior to working at the Smithsonian Institution, she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University.

In her role as the only Scientific Illustrator the Smithsonian has ever hired, she has

worked with pen and ink, graphite, and—recently—digital color to produce botanical illustrations. She specialises in monochrome illustration.
illustrated over 1000 species of plants appearing in various scientific periodicals, floras, and botanical and nature books.
managed and curated an extensive collection of botanical illustrations.

Plus she also

teaches classes in scientific illustration techniques, presents lectures on botanical illustration and
juries shows in botanical gardens and academic institutions.

You can view her scientific botanical illustrations on the Smithsonian Database by

doing a search of the Botany Collections Database (or access via https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/search/botany/?ti=7)
click search Botanical Art
select the "Artist" cell and search for Tangerini, Alice
click Seach button
(optional) select 100 for the number of illustrations to a page

Besides the Smithsonian Institution, her artwork is also held in the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, and the botanical art collection of the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.

AWARDS AND PRIZES

Alice Tangerini has received the following awards

1999 - "Distinguished Service Award" - from Guild of Natural Science Illustrators
2008 - "Excellence in Scientific Botanical Art" award - from the American Society of Botanical Artists
2021 - The Jill Smythies Award 2020 - by the Linnean Society of London

PUBLICATION AND ARTICLES

2020 - Botanical illustration is becoming endangered, but the job is essential | Washington Post (Jan 2020)

2018 - The Smithsonian Magazine gave her a tribute by way of a 'Woman In Science" Special Report titled The Botanical Artist Who Translates Plant Science Into Beautiful Art The Smithsonian’s first and only botanical illustrator brings her subjects to life in all their scientific glory
2017 - Botanical Illustrator Alice Tangerini - Hillrag.com
2016 - Tangerini, Alice, Everly, Robin, and Cardello, Sara. 2016. "Botanical illustrator, Alice Tangerini, featured at Smithsonian Libraries event." The Plant Press (4): 7.
2013 - Funk, Vicki Ann, Robinson, Harold E., and Tangerini, Alice. 2013. "Whatever happened to Bishopanthus (Compositae, Liabeae)?." PhytoKeys 30:65– 73. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.30.6652
1999 - Tangerini, A. R. 1999. "I go to Washington and meet Dr. Smith." Havard Papers in Botany 4 (1):97– 102.
1996 - Dorr, Laurence J. and Tangerini, A. 1996. "Catalog of botanical illustrations [Department of Botany, Smithsonian Institution]." http://www.nmnh.si.edu/botart

Plus this is herGoogle Arts and Culture page!

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Mrs Priscilla Susan Bury and a selection of hexandrian plants

2/6/2021

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The feature image for the Botanical Art and Artists website and Facebook Page for Summer 2021 is this image of Crinium Augustum [Queen Emma] by Mrs Priscilla Bury (1799 - 1872)

This post is about Mrs Bury and her very impressive book about hexandrian plants i.e. plants with six stamens called "A selection of hexandrian plants, belonging to the natural orders Amaryllidæ and Liliacæ, from drawings by Mrs. Edward Bury, Liverpool"

Crinium Augustum [Queen Emma] by Mrs Priscilla Bury FROM "A selection of hexandrian plants, belonging to the natural orders Amaryllidæ and Liliacæ, from drawings by Mrs. Edward Bury, Liverpool"

About Mrs Priscilla Bury (1799-1872)

Priscilla Susan Falkner was born in Liverpool. She was the daughter of a rich Liverpool merchant whose estate outside the city at Fairfields 'boasted a garden with many rare and exotic plants' (Tomasi).

As a young woman she was an enthusiastic botanist and flower painter and was particularly interested in lilies and allied flowers. She had no pretensions as to scientific knowledge and, in effect, was a very talented amateur.

By 1829, (age 30) she had produced a number of paintings of hexandrian plants, which she wished to publish.

In 1830, Falkner married Edward Bury F.R.S. (1794-1858), a wealthy and ingenious railway engineer and she had three sons - and her paintings were transcribed by Robert Havell into engravings. (Havel was also responsible for his engravings for John James Audubon).

Following the publication of Hexandrian Plants, Priscilla Bury continued to contribute illustrations to botanical works including

producing eight plates for Maund's The Botanic Garden (London: 1825-1851) and
Maund and Henslow's The Botanist (London: 1836-1842).

Between 1852 and 1860 the family lived at Hillsborough Hall near Sheffield and later moved to Croft Lodge, Ambleside in the Lake District. By 1866 she was living at Fairfield, Thornton Heath, Croydon. She died at Fairfield on 8 March 1872 of bronchitis and cerebral congestion.

About "A Selection of Hexandrian Plants"

Crinum pedunculatum. [River lily] (1834) by Priscilla Susan Bury

Mrs Bury's place in botanical art history is due to her flower paintings which were published - as engravings - in A Selection of Hexandrian Plants, belonging to the Natural Orders Amaryllidae and Liliacae in London by Robert Havell the younger, [plates watermarked 1831-1834].

There were 79 subscribers to this book and hence this is now a rare book of some significance. A copy of her book was auctioned at Christies in 2001 and fetched £75,250. Wilfrid Blunt described it (in The Art of Botanical Illustration) as

"one of the most effective colour-plate folios of the period"

For me, I think her book is an excellent teaching aid in relation to those wanting to learn about composition. Note her technique - subsequently replicated by Pandora Sellars - of putting her light coloured blooms against the dark leaves of her hexaodrian plants so that they can be seen much more clearly.

All the good techniques are there in past paintings. You just need to study the past to learn a lot about what does and does not work in relation to telling the story of a plant within the context of botanical art and illustration.

How to see her book

You can see examples of the images from the book in various online collections of botanical images, namely:

Amaryllis fulgida by Priscilla Susan Bury

There are copies of the book in the libraries of:

National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum London, SW7 2RL
Natural History Museum London, SW7 5BD
Royal Botanic Gardens, KEW Richmond, TW9 3AB
Boston Athenaeum Boston, MA 02108 United States
Morgan Library & Museum Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, NY 10016 United States
New York Botanical Garden The LuEsther T. Mertz Library, Bronx, NY 10458 United States

REFERENCE:

Priscilla Susan Bury | Wikipedia
Mrs Edward Bury (nee Priscilla Susan Falkner), Botanical Artist | Archives of Natural History (Vol. 5 (1) | 71 - Sept 1, 1968
Bury, Priscilla Susan 1799 - 1872 | Science Museum Group
Mrs Edward Bury | The Art of Botanical Illustration (1955 - page 213) by Wilfrid Blunt
Mrs Edward Bury | Christies
Bury [née Falkner], Priscilla Susan (1799–1872) by D. J. Mabberley | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

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A Florilegium: Sheffield’s Hidden Garden

22/5/2021

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In July, a new botanical art book about a Florilegium will be published.
A Florilegium: Sheffield’s Hidden Garden has been written by Valerie Oxley in liaison with The Florilegium Society at Sheffield Botanical Gardens.

front cover of the book

The book provides

an introduction to florilegia dating from the early herbals
a history of the Society’s Herbarium and the Gardens themselves
a selection of the botanical illustrations of plants in the garden held in the archive of The Florilegium Society at Sheffield Botanical Gardens.

The illustrations have all been drawn and painted by botanical artists who are past or present members of The Florilegium Society. In addition, each illustration included in the book is accompanied by a plant profile, stating where the plant was found in the wild and explaining something of its history, uses and botany.

About the Author

This book has been written by the Florilegium Society’s founding chair Valerie Oxley - in association with The Florilegium Society at Sheffield Botanical Gardens.
Valerie is a freelance tutor in botanical illustration and the current President of IAPI (Institute for Analytical Plant Illustration), who inspired students from all over the world with her enthusiasm for natural history, and plant illustration in particular. She also:

developed the first Diploma in Botanical Illustration with colleagues at the University of Sheffield
used to moderate the Botanical Illustration Diploma Course at the RBG Edinburgh
wrote "Botanical Illustration" (2008) - an instruction book for aspiring botanical illustrators botanical which I highly recommend. You can read my review on this website and my summary (below) bodes well for the new book.

An excellent manual for anybody who wants to learn more about botanical illustration with a strong botanical perspective.
Book Review: Botanical Illustration by Valerie Oxley

Details of the book

Author: Valerie Oxley - in association with The Florilegium Society at Sheffield Botanical Gardens
Publisher: The Crowood Press Ltd
Publication date: 6th July 2021
Format:

Hardback (Price £25)
e-book
ISBN-10 : 1785008943 | ISBN-13 : 978-1785008948

Number of pages: 160 pages
Number of Illustrations: 100 colour illustrations
Weight: 843 g
Dimensions: 280 x 220 x 17 mm

The Florilegium Society's website does yet not provide a profile page for the book.
If you're interested in ordering a copy from the publisher, I suggest you click the link embedded in the title at the top of this post. and order direct from the publishers.

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