NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

The Top 10 Botanical Artists & Illustrators

30/12/2019

The 10 most popular botanical artists and botanical illustrators from the past - with dedicated pages on my website - are ranked and listed below.

To date the 18th and 20th centuries are doing very well. The spread across the centuries is as follows:

1600s: 1
1700s: 3
1800s: 2
1900s: 4

It's very interesting that the top three female botanical artists are all people that I would think of as being part of the great "exploration" heritage of botanical art. They used their own initiative to decide where to go, what to paint and how to present it in terms of contemporary ways of exhibiting and publicising their work.

Some food for thought maybe as people compile their "to do" lists for next year?

Links to the dedicated web pages for each artist are embedded in the names of the botanical artists listed below. The ranked order is based on the Google Analytics data for my website for the last four years.

1. Maria Sibylla Merian (1647 - 1717)
Her popularity is, in part, influenced by all the events and celebrations of her life generated by the 300th anniversary of her death in 2017. There was a lot of interest in her life during that period - and since.

2. Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759 - 1840)
Probably one of the most popular botanical artists with the general public. Due in no small part to the considerable reproduction of his paintings for wall decorations. However his achievements in terms of "series" paintings were considerable and varied - particularly Les Liliacees (1802 - 15) and Les Roses (1817 - 21). He also has the unique distinction of painting on commission for both Queen Marie Antoinette and the Empress Josephine Bonaparte!

3. Margaret Mee (1909 - 1998)
A lot of her paintings of plants in the Amazon Rainforest were exhibited in the "Brazil - a Powerhouse of Plants" exhibition at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew Gardens in 2016. Her focus on the destruction of the Amazon rainforest has also seen her much referenced in recent times

4. Marianne North (1830 - 1890)
There are not many artists who can say they've travelled to and painted plants in

North and Central America: the USA, Canada, Jamaica and the Caribbean,
South America - Brazil and Chile.
Europe - Tenerife
Asia - Japan, Singapore, Sarawak, Java, Sri Lanka, India,
Australasia - Australia, New Zealand,
Africa - South Africa and the Seychelles

I think this botanical artist enjoys a lot of fame due to having her very own gallery at Kew. If you want to make sure your botanical art continues to be seen after your are no longer around, it's a great idea to build a dedicated art gallery to do just that! Plus her artwork is unique and well remembered once seen for how it is hung in the Marianne North Gallery.

5. Rory McEwen (1932 - 1982)
Probably the best known and most popular of more recent contemporary artists. As 'The Colours of Reality' Retrospective Exhibition in 2013 at Kew demonstrated, this is an artist who has been a considerable influence on many of the most talented leading botanical artists of today

6. Elizabeth Blackwell (1707 - 1758)
A lady botanical artist with a fascinating backstory who painted plants growing in the Chelsea Physic Garden. Blackwell compiled and published her hand drawn, engraved and coloured "A Curious Herbal" (1737-1739) in order to raise funds to free her husband from debtors prison.

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7. Sydney Parkinson (1745 - 1771)
The botanical artist who sailed on the Endeavour, with Captain Cook, to South America, Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia - and died on the way back. He's well known in connection to the development of his drawings and paintings for Banks Florilegium.

8. Georg Dionysius Ehret (1708-1770)
The leading botanical artist in Europe in 1750! This German born artist was a prodigious artist who produced an enormous number of high quality illustrations on commission for various botanical publications and plant collectors. He was one of the most influential botanical artists of all time due to his development of the Linnaean style of botanical illustration. He is also one of my favourites!

9. Arthur Harry Church (1865-1937)
A botanist who focused on the morphology and structure of plants and began to illustrate to demonstrate his findings. He has since earned a reputation as a scientific botanical illustrator of note.

10. Pandora Sellars (1936 - 2017)
The youngest of the botanical artists in this list and the one who died most recently. She is widely considered to be a contemporary equivalent to the botanical masters of the past and one of the top botanical painters of all time. Botanical Theatre: The Art of Pandora Sellars (1936-2017) - a retrospective exhibition of her paintings on display at Kew demonstrated that for those who were fortunate enough to be able to visit and see her work

Tomorrow - for the last blog post of the decade, I'll be reviewing the Top 20 Pages on my Botanical Art & Artists website based on the number of pageviews they've enjoyed since they were created.

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Francis Bauer: the first botanical illustrator at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew

11/12/2019

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Today is the anniversary of the death of Francis (Franz) Bauer FRS FLS at the age of 82, on 11th December 1840.

Francis Bauer was born an Austrian. He was born in in Feldsberg in Lower Austria (now Valtice in the Czech Republic) on 14 March 1758. However he spent 50 years at Kew Gardens - illustrating plants.

He visited London in 1788 when he was 30 and met Sir Joseph Banks who had a passion for botany and was extremely pleased to meet Bauer - probably at his home at 32 Soho Square. He has by this time realised that finding a competent botanical painter was far more difficult than finding an engraver.

In 1789, Bank appointed Bauer as a natural history illustrator with an annual annuity for life of £300. Bauer subsequently settled permanently in Kew and became the first resident plant illustrator at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.

His title was the 'Botanick Painter to His Majesty' for his work at Kew Gardens. A subsequent complication was that his paintings were owned by the crown which gave them to the British Museum! They're now in the Natural History Museum - with just one orchid painting at Kew! However the Natural History Museum has an excellent website where you can see many of them.

Thumbnails of works by Francis Bauer in the Natural History Museum

He is very well known for

his use of the microscope to study and make meticulous and very impressive studies of dissections and pollen grains. He observed nuclei in plant cells in 1802 and began to study pollen diversity
painting a number of illustrations of plants of the genus Strelitzia from South Africa between 1818 - 1820
his studies of orchids while working with John Lindley. He starts to publish Illustrations of Orchidaceous Plants in 1830.
his painted record of "Drawings of Plants Cultivated in the Royal Garden at Kew" (1790-1820) - which is now kept in four different institutions but with very little at Kew!

If you want to see very good reproductions of his paintings, I highly recommend The Bauers Joseph, Franz & Ferdinand: An Illustrated Biography by Hans Walter Lack (see end) which has excellent and large reproductions of his work in what is a very large, comprehensive and heavy book! I got my copy from the Bodleian bookshop when I went to see the exhibit of Ferdinand Bauer's colour scheme.

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NEW: The Shirley Sherwood Collection has a website!

27/11/2019

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The NEW Shirley Sherwood Collection website - Home Page

Last night Shirley Sherwood announced that the Shirley Sherwood Collection of Botanical Art now has a website. The URL is http://shirleysherwood.com - which I'm sure all fans of botanical art will want to bookmark

I've known about it for some time but also knew that the natural time for a public announcement would be at last night's Private View for the "Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art" exhibition at The Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew Gardens. So today is the right time to share with everybody else!

Below I'll describe what you can find on the website and how to access the different sections and pages within the website.

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RHS London Botanical Art Show 2019 - Awards and Medal Winners

24/7/2019

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This post is about who won which award and which colour of medal at the RHS London Botanical Art Show 2019.

Below you can read about

which artists won Awards for outstanding botanical artwork
the names of artists and exhibits which won different colour medals - and some images of the Gold Medal winners

There are:

10 Gold Medals ( UK x 5; Japan x 4; Russia x 1;)
8 Silver Gilt Medals
10 Silver Medals
2 Bronze Medals

Links in the names of artists are generally to their websites where you can see more about their botanical artwork.

If you'd like to read more bout the individual artists, please refer to Exhibiting artists at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2019

Awards for outstanding botanical artwork

There are three Awards this year - which were awarded as follows:

Best Botanical Painting 2019: Mariko Ikeda GM (2017-2019): P.Tectorius ‘En Khelen’ - Mariko is developing an excellent track record. She won Best Exhibit in her first exhibit and Best Painting this time.
Best Botanical Art Exhibit 2019: Naomi Gumma GM (2019): The Lifecycle of the Shimonita Welsh Onion Naomi's art extends well beyond her botanical painting - see the video below (in the Gold Medal section) of her dance associated with her exhibit.
Judges’ Special Award 2019: Betsy Rogers-Knox: Exploring the Seasons at Beckley Bog - This was awarded because of the significant educational value about plants growing in a specific environment of Betsy's images.

Best Botanical Painting 2019: Mariko Ikeda GM (2017-2019)

Best Botanical Art Exhibit 2019: Naomi Gumma GM (2019): The Lifecycle of the Shimonita Welsh Onion

Judges’ Special Award 2019: Betsy Rogers-Knox

RHS Gold Medals 2019

There are ten Gold Medals. It's important to also note that

Four previous GM winners repeated their GM from their last exhibition and
Four previous GM winners did not win a GM this time.

Just because you have won a GM before there is no guarantee you can repeat this. The medal is awarded for a specific exhibit not the botanical Artist per se.

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Exhibiting artists at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2019

14/7/2019

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Below you an find a list of the 30 artists exhibiting at least 180 botanical paintings and/or botanical illustrations at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2019 at the RHS London Art & Photography Show at the Lindley Hall in London later this month.

There has been an ever-increasing number of artists applying to exhibit. This year the artists are sharing the Lindley Hall with the Portfolio Photographers also competing for medals. It appears to me that an informed but arbitrary limit has been determined with 30 stands going to the artists and 10 to the photographers.

In reviewing the list of exhibitors I noted in particular that apart from those artists who have never exhibited before, the remainder of the artists exhibiting are those who have previously won either a Gold or a Silver Gilt Medal.

I wonder if this is the new standard for returning artists? If it is I'm not surprised - I've been expecting it for some time given that the walls of the Hall are not going to expand to fit all those who want to exhibit! (I found the relevant text in the Fact Sheet)

It may not be possible to accommodate all of the artists who apply for space. If this is the case a selection criteria will be employed taking into consideration previous exhibition and medal history.
Botanical Illustration 2019: Exhibitor Fact Sheet

View of the RHS Botanical Art Show in July 2018

All exhibitors have applied to exhibit after

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

Both then have a period of five years to submit their artwork after gaining approval or a medal. Interestingly we have two Gold Medal Winners from the 2014 exhibiting this year.

The list of selected/invited artists is organised by the continent/country where they live.
In total there are

30 artists (35 in 2016, 29 in 217 and 37 in 2018) )
from 10+ different countries (10 in 2016 and 12 in 2018).

The number per country is as follows:

14 x UK (England)
3 x Japan
2 x South Korea
1 x Australia
1 x Italy
1 x Hong Kong (China)
1 x New Zealand
1 x Switzerland
1 x UK (Scotland)
1 x USA
4 x Other

The link in the name of the artist is to their own website or a website which is representative of their work.

I've highlighted previous Gold Medal Winners by 'GM' after their names. The number relates to the year they won it. I've also commented on those I know and those where I was able to find some information about them. Help would be appreciated with respect to anybody who knows those listed at the end under "other".

DETAILS OF THE RHS LONDON ART & PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW

The RHS London Art and Photography Show includes 30 artists and 10 photographers.
Venue: RHS Lindley Hall Elverton St, London SW1P 2PB
Dates:

opens with a Preview Evening on Tuesday 23rd July 6-9pm. All tickets £5. Note medal certificates may not be published until the Wednesday morning - as happened last year.
Two full days on Wednesday 24th and Thursday 25th (10am-5pm).

Tickets: This is the link to buy tickets in advance: £5 to the public for each day if purchased in advance and £8 on the day. FREE ENTRY to all RHS Members producing their membership cards and ID (No ticket required)

MY RECOMMENDATIONS:

VISIT THIS EXHIBITION if you are at all serious about botanical art as a botanical artist or botanical art collector. It will include some of the best botanical art exhibited anywhere in the world this year.

My strong recommendation to Artists planning to apply to the RHS to exhibit in the future has always been to

Ideally visit the exhibition to get a proper sense of the standard and what's involved in putting together an exhibit
If you can't visit (because you live outside the UK) review my archive of blog posts and videos about previous shows to get a sense of the standard and presentation
Study the exhibits and think about why some work better than others as exhibits. Think long and hard about your exhibit theme. Avoid popular / much repeated themes and remember this is a Horticultural Society which values botanical accuracy!
study the background and paintings of those selected for this exhibition - in particular those who have previously been awarded a Gold Medal by the RHS. Note the length of time it takes to prepare before starting to paint.
Make the most of the tips offered by previous Gold Medal Winners
Delay exhibiting until you have the very best exhibit you can possibly produce. I've known people very much regret they rushed an exhibit.
ALWAYS bear in mind that the weakest element/painting is very influential in determining the medal awarded. Eliminate all weaknesses!
Aim for Silver Gilt or better - to stand a better chance of being able to exhibit more than once.

EUROPE (17 exhibitors)

United Kingdom - England (14)

This year's exhibitors include 5 Gold Medallists, 2 Silver Gilt Medallists and 7 artists who are NEW to exhibiting at the RHS (as an individual).

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Ask an Expert - the next 3 Botanical Art Surgeries at Kew Gardens

11/7/2019

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The dates of the next "Ask an Expert - Botanical Art Surgeries" with botanical illustrators who work with the botanists at Kew Gardens (and other clients) in the Art Galleries at Kew are as follows:

Venue: Marianne North Gallery

Venue: Shirley Sherwood Gallery

19th January 2020 - Lucy Smith and Hazel Wilks (link to the website for more info will be available nearer the date)

The botanical art surgeries are FREE with admission to Kew Gardens.
Each workshop will last from 11am to 3pm.

About Christobel King

Christobel King - pictured with some of her artwork at the "Brazil - A Powerhouse of Plants" exhibition at Kew in 2016

Christabel King graduated in botany and then studied scientific illustration, before she began working as a botanical illustrator with the botanists at Kew Gardens and became one of the world’s top botanical illustrators. She started producing plates for Kew's Curtis's Botanical Magazine in 1975 and has now spent over 40 years working at Kew (although I gather this is part-time these days as she has now officially retired!)

In 1989 she was awarded the Jill Smythies Award for excellence in botanical illustration by the Linnean Society. She also has the RHS Grenfell Gold Medal,

Christabel is the author of The Kew Book of Botanical Illustration - the first art instruction book by the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew - which also shares some of her wealth of experience, expertise and tips.

You can read an interview with her In the Studio: Christabel King about her techniques and art materials -

About Rachel Pedder Smith

Home Page graphic for Rache Pedder Smith's website

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Book Review: RHS Botanical Illustration - The Gold Medal Winners

26/6/2019

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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.

RHS Botanical Illustration - The Gold Medal Winners is a book I've been waiting for, for a long time - not least because I proposed to the RHS Publications a while back that there really should be a book about the RHS Gold Medal Winners for Botanical Art.

I think the difference between the book I had in mind and that which has been produced is that this one largely

provides a historical account of the RHS Art Collection and how it developed over time
celebrates a selection of the artists who have worked in the latter half of the 20th century and the first two decades of the 21st century
highlights some 60 of those whose artwork is in the RHS Lindley Library Collection of Botanical Art and Illustrations

Hence no Pandora Sellars (whose career took off after being seen at the RHS Botanical Art Shows in 1977) - although the book does include Mary Grierson.

I'm especially pleased we now have a list of all those who have won an RHS Gold Medal in the past - going all the way back to 1930! This was, as I anticipated it might be, a MAJOR exercise in terms of compiling a list from various Minutes of Committee meetings and other records of medals awarded. I know this is the first time ever a complete list has been published! As a result I now have a list of artists whose names need adding into my lists of top botanical artists in the world. That's because any artist who creates a suite of 6 or 9 botanical paintings or illustrations and wins an RHS Gold Medal has always been right up there for me in terms of determining what makes a good artist excellent.

Below is my review of the book - and at the end I tell you the techie details and how to get a copy.

It's also a bit of a "pat on the back" to those artists whose work made it into the book. Hence my photographs of artists are my own taken at the various RHS Botanical Art Shows - as the book very much focuses on the paintings and there are no photos of the artists. Personally I like to see both - not least for scale purposes!

Annie Hughes - who created the painting on the cover - with her Best Painting in Show of an Astrophytum in 2012.

About the book

The book comprises:

an introduction covering (1) the Lindley Library Collection of Botanical Art; and (2) the development of medals for botanical art - and notable awards made by the RHS
commentary by the Chair of the RHS Picture Panel on the current process for aspiring botanical artists to achieve medals at the show
profiles of a selection of 60 RHS Botanical Art Gold Medal Artists, from all over the world who ALSO have work in the Lindley Library Collection - because it was purchased or commissioned by the Lindley Library Collection or because it was donated to the Library by a Gold Medallist. These profiles include accounts of how some of them approached their work.
the Historical List of ALL the RHS Gold Medal Winners (who total a lot more than the 60 in the book) - which runs to six pages and 168 RHS Shows!
a detailed list of all the illustrations in the book - by their botanical latin name

The introduction to the book documents the history of botanical illustration for the RHS, including the commissioning process and the collection developed by the RHS Lindley Library - some of which I knew but some of which came as a complete surprise.

More interesting, for me, was the notion of how botanical art should also be recognised in terms of medals awarded and how this has developed over time.

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