NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

Florentia International Exhibition of Botanical Art

28/9/2018

Botanical art enthusiasts in Italy can visit the Florentia International Exhibition of Botanical Art (29th September - 7th October 2018).

It's the first international exhibition of contemporary botanical art in Florence. It will showcase

approximately 80 original botanical watercolours
by well known botanical artists coming from Italy and 11 different countries (Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, The Netherlands, Russia, United Kingdom, United States).

Poster for the First International Exhibition of Botanical Art in Florence

Title: Florentia International Exhibition of Botanical Art
Catalogue: available
Venue: Villa Bardini, Costa S. Giorgio, 2-4, 50125 Firenze FI, Italy
Dates: September 29 - October 7, 2018
Opening hours: 10.00am - 7.00pm, Tuesday to Sunday. Free entry on the first Sunday of the month.
Sponsors: Società Toscana di Orticultura/Tuscan Horticultural Society - on the occasion of the traditional "Autumn and Plant Market Exhibition"

Purpose of the Exhibition

Florentia is intended as an opportunity to foster collaboration and sharing between participating artists, raise awarness of this artistic genre and demonstrate the contemporary botanical art renewed vitality, especially in Florence, in the wake of an ancient and prestigious tradition.

In the Medicean Florence, thanks to the interest of the Grand Dukes both for botany and art, great artists such as Jacopo Ligozzi and Giovanna Garzoni, were called to represent, in beautiful watercolor and gouache, the best of the floral and fruit crops and the most precious medicinal plants.

Organisers

The Florentia exhibition is co-organized by two Tuscan botanical artists:

Simonetta Occhipinti GM who lives and works in Florence, and
Giuliana Gallo who was born in the island of Elba but lives in The Netherlands and is a member of the Dutch Society of Botanical Artists

Simonetta Occhipinti GM with part of her Gold Medal winning exhibit of The Citrus of the Medici Family

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TOP TIPS from RHS Gold Medal Winners 2017

14/8/2018

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When I interview the botanical artists who have just won an RHS Gold Medal at the RHS Botanical Art Show, I always ask them for tips for those aspiring to do the same.

In 2017 I was rewarded - more than I can say - by hearing from Mariko Ikeda who won the Best Exhibit prize at the RHS London Botanical Art Show 2017. She wanted to thank me profusely for everything I've written before as it really helped her with preparing her exhibit!

Pandanus by Mariko Ikeda at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2017 (photo Katherine Tyrrell)

Pandanus by Mariko Ikeda - Gold Medal and Best Exhibit at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2017 (photo Katherine Tyrrell)

Then Kate Barling, another exhibitor, found me to thank me for the tip about how to mount the work - and I collected another tip from her which you'll find below!

So the bottom line is what goes around comes around.

You can benefit from the tips I've identified to date and...
...in future I might be asking you what's your top tip!

Note: Unfortunately last year I started this post but forgot finish it. But it's never too late to pass on a few more tips!
READ ON for my very belated post about the top tips from the RHS Gold Medallists in 2017 - which is now complete!

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Notable Botanical Artists of the 20th Century

12/8/2018

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The page 20th century Botanical Artists on my website is about those botanical artists who are more associated with the 20th century than either the 19th or the 21 centuries.

Some were born before 1900 and
some died after 2000
they did most of their work in the 20th century
however they are all now deceased

Below is a list of names of the artists who are highlighted on this page - with a summary of their dates and achievements. Please note: the page essentially works on the same basis as those for contemporary botanical artists on my website

If you have suggestions for other names who should be on this list please let me know.

At the end, there are links to the other pages containing listings of famous and/or notable botanical artists past and present.

Convolvulus Family by Mrs H. Isabel Adams - for Wild Flowers of the British Isles

UK

British Botanical Artists

Mrs Harriet Isabel Adams FLS (1863-1952)
Raymond Booth (1929-2015)
Elizabeth Cameron GM (1915-2009)
Arthur Harry Church (1865-1937)
Stella Ross Craig (1906 - 2006)
Sally Crosthwaite GM SBA SFP (?-2017)
Jeannie Foord (dates ? 19th/20th century)
Mary Anderson Grierson GM (1912 - 2012)
Sally Keir GM SBA (1938-2007)
Suzanne Lucas MBE GM (1915-2008)
Margaret Mee (1909-1988)
Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) and Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh (1864-1933)
Rory McEwen (1932-1982)
John Northcote Nash CBE, RA (1893 – 1977)
Catherine Nicholson (1958-2011)
Pandora Sellars GM (1936 - 2017)
Lillian Snelling MBE VMH (1879-1972)

EUROPE

German Botanical Artists

Claus Caspari (1911–1980)

Irish Botanical Artists

Wendy Walsh (1915 - 2014)

Italian Botanical Artists

Anna Paoletto (1946–2016)

BRITTON AND ROSE, VOL. II M. E. Eaton del 1. Fruit of Hylocereus trigonus. 2. Flower of Selenicereus boeckmannii 3. Fruit of Selenicereus boeckmannii. (All natural size.)

NORTH AMERICA

USA

Mary Emily Eaton (1873-1961)
Lee Adams (1922-1971)
Anne Ophelia Todd Dowden (1907–2007)
Priscilla K S Fawcett (1932-2012)
Janice Glimn Lacy (1935-2013)
Maud Purdy (1873 - 1965)

SOUTH AMERICA

Brazil

Etienne Demonte (1931-2004)

AUSTRALASIA

Australian Botanical Artists

Margaret Flockton (1861-1953)
Paul Jones OBE (1921 - 1997)
Emily Pelloe (1878 – 1941)

Artwork by Paul Jones - Magnolia grandiflora; Sunflower: Helianthus annuus; and the book "Flora Magnifica" paintings by Paul Jones; text by Wilfrid Blunt

AFRICA

South African Botanical Artists

Dr Auriol Batten (1918-2015)
Barbara Jeppe (1921-1999)
Cythna Letty (1895 - 1985)
Ann Schweizer (1930-2014)

Zimbabwean Botanical Artists

Margaret Tredgold (1910 - 2012)

ASIA

Chinese Botanical Artists

Chengru Feng (1896–1968)

Japanese Botanical Artists

Yoshio Futakushi (1900-1997)

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More about Botanical Artists

BOTANICAL ARTISTS IN HISTORY

Past Masters of Botanical Art (1500-1900) - organised by countries and timeline plus individual pages for leading botanical artists of the past
Famous Asian Botanical Artists (600-1900)

CONTEMPORARY BOTANICAL ARTISTS
Criteria for inclusion on this website are listed on Contemporary botanical artists and illustrators around the world.

The links below are to lists of the top contemporary botanical artists and illustrators:

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Worth a Thousand Words - exhibition at the RHS

8/7/2018

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Worth a Thousand Words is the new exhibition at the RHS Lindley Library of RHS Gold Medal winning paintings in the botanical art collection.

It's timed to coincide with the Botanical Art Show which is part of the Plant and Art Fair on 10th - 12th July 2018, at which the very latest RHS Gold Medals will be handed out to the worthy winners.

What you can see

This exhibition features original artworks by artists who have excelled in all areas in order to achieve the Gold-medal standard.

You can see:

artwork in watercolour, watercolour and pencil, coloured pencils, gouache, pen and ink
a selection of recent acquisitions and some of the finest contemporary botanical artworks in the RHS Lindley Collections
the very different ways that contemporary artists portray plants and flowers while raising the standards and pushing the boundaries of botanical illustration.

Two of the works also include the supplementary studies done in preparation for the painting - plus there is a slideshow of the process of creating one of the works.

IMPORTANT! The exhibits are on both sides of the white partition display walls - so don't imadvertently miss any of the paintings!

The Participating Artists

The participating artists are listed below and next to the view of their work in the exhibition. The labels beneath the artwork explain:

the latin and common name of the plant and
which RHS Botanical Art Shows they have exhibited at
what medals were awarded at each show

All artists are from England unless otherwise indicated.
The majority of artists are multiple Gold Medal Winners.

"Worth a Thousand Words" - paintings and preparatory studies

Left to right the above artwork is by:

Kimoyo Maruyama (Japan) Gold Medals 2001, 2003, 2005, 2010 (+ Best Exhibit), 2015
Samantha Cook - Gold Medal 2006
(top) Sandra Sanger (Australia) Gold Medals 2008, 2010, 2013, 2016 She has also received the 'The Celia Rosser Award' for an outstanding painting.
(Bottom) Clare McGhee (Scotland) Gold Medal 2010 This is her Facebook Page
Norma Gregory - Gold Medals 2006, 2009, 2011 - The Rheum in the exhibition is from her third series in 2011. It was great to see it again - see below for a photo of Norma and the first time I saw it.
Janet Dyer - Gold Medal and Best Botanical Painting 2013. Interestingly her painting is of a plant which is now outlawed in the UK due to its invasive and destructive nature - the Giant Hogweed

In addition (and initially omitted accidentally due to my photography) is Ann Swan Gold medals in 1991, 1993, 1997, 1999 (Joint) - who also has a coloured pencil drawing of an Opuntia in the show to the left of the fir by Kimoyo Maruyama. Ann is now a very popular botanical art tutor in coloured pencils.

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What's the difference between botanical art and flower painting?

31/1/2018

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Those new to botanical art are often unfamiliar with the differences between botanical illustration, botanical art and flower painting.

This post provides:

a brief introduction to an explanation of the differences and where you can find more information on this topic
how the differences between botanical illustration and botanical art developed over time

What's the difference between botanical art, botanical illustration and flower painting?

On my website I have a page called What is Botanical Art?

At the top of the page there is a summary of the differences between:

botanical illustration - where the emphasis is on the identification of species and support for the scientific perspective and publication - hence an emphasis on monochrome illustrations
botanical art - which has aesthetic appeal and is always botanically accurate in terms of scale, form, structure and colour and might include the portrayal of habitat. However it is not always as complete as a scientific botanical illustration.
flower painting - which is much more about the creation of an aesthetically pleasing painting and is much less about botanical accuracy and plant identification.

Further down the page, I expand on

The Science of Botanical Illustration
The Artistry of Botanical Art

which cites definitions used for botanical illustration and botanical art - including those used by the RHS, ASBA and BAC. I also include links to other parts of the website which provide further information to support those who want to learn more about, for example, scientific botanical illustration.

How do you describe the differences between botanical art and illustration?

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What's the History of Botanical Art?

What is Botanical Art? also provides an introduction to the history of the development of botanical art and illustration and why these differences exist. It provides:

an overview of the history of the development of botanical art
highlighting the role of Herbals; the Age of Discovery - and the work done by botanical artists on voyages of exploration and discovery over the years; the role of Gardens and the Florilegium and finally the development of Contemporary Botanical Art in the twentieth century.
summarising the role played by key individuals as patrons or painters in developing both the science and artistry of botanical art and illustration. Most of these individuals have a dedicated page on this website where you can find out more about their contribution. (just tap the link in their names to view their page).

P. sukhakulii, C. lindeniana [Paphiopedilum and Cypripedium] (Watercolour on paper, 1989) © Estate of Pandora Sellars. Courtesy of RHS Library Collections

One of the important artists who contributed to the development of contemporary botanical art is Pandora Sellars - who worked as a botanical illustrator for the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and designed her complex compositions as a trained artist.

She excelled at developing new ways to design botanical paintings to help understand the colour and form of plants in terms of both their flowers and leaves - and has influenced many botanical artists as a result.

I'm very pleased to announce that the Estate of Pandora Sellars and the RHS have given me permission to use an image of the orchid painting which is now part of the RHS Lindley Library Collection on this website. You can see it above. I'm guessing it will be the first view of this work for many people. To my mind, it's a perfect example of how it is possible to combine botanical illustration and botanical art!

Enjoy!

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