NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

Nigel Pickering GM (1957 - 2021)

30/1/2021

I met Dr. Nigel Pickering at the Private View of the last RHS Botanical Art Show in July 2019 and was very impressed with his exhibit. I came back the next morning and much as I had expected his exhibit - it had been awarded a Gold Medal

Dr Nigel John Pickering with his RHS Exhibit Treasures of the Richtersveld. This drawing is of a Pachypodium namaquanum, the iconic plant of the Richtersveld

Nigel John Pickering came to botanical illustration late in life. He was a qualified doctor who had worked as a General Practitioner, latterly at the of Malmesbury Primary Care Centre. On retirement he studied botanical illustration with Julia Trickey and subsequently joined the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society and Cirencester Botanical Artists.

I met Nigel when he showed for the first time at the RHS Botanical Flower Show in July 2019. I found out that he was very interested interested in botany, plants and conservation particularly in rare and unusual plants 'living on the edge'. (plants of mountains and desert regions). He'd travelled to South Africa for his exhibit of Treasures of the Richtersveld (in graphite and watercolour - in the tradition of Auriol Batten). The exhibit was both very unusual and very striking. He was awarded a well deserved RHS Gold Medal. I had every expectation he's be back with another exhibit as he had very obviously enjoyed the show and I was certainly looking forward to seeing his next exhibit.

He died on 14th January 2021 at home.

REFERENCE:

Gold Medal Succulent Art | British Cactus and Succulent Society - a thread by a member who was very impressed by the exhibit - it includes images of Nigel's work.

Treasures of the Richtersveld - RHS Gold Medal winning exhibit by Dr Nigel Pickering

The end of the show and time to pack up...

This is my third obituary for a botanical artist in the last two months - all relating to people who had been ill for some time - and two relate to artists who exhibited at that 2019 RHS Show.....

At this time of a pandemic, we must always remember that any death for any reason is always so very sad for those who are family and friends of the deceased. I send my condolences to Nigel's family and friends. By all accounts, he was somebody who was very much liked and appreciated by all those who knew him.

The funeral service is private and will be followed by a Memorial Service. Donations welcome for The Brain Tumour Charity or Dorothy House Hospice (see Death Notice)

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Review: 'Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art' at Kew Gardens

24/11/2019

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The new exhibition Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew Gardens is very definitely a LANDMARK exhibition of contemporary botanical art - and one woman's dedication and commitment. It's significant in size and scope and is very impressive to the point of being quite overwhelming.

I'm very happy to highly recommend it to all those interested in botanical art and/or watercolour painting and/or plants and nature in general.

The current exterior of the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art

I think it's the first time in the 11 year history of the gallery that the entire gallery has been given over to paintings from The Shirley Sherwood Collection. Normally exhibitions on a theme have been a mix of artwork (and/or other items) from the Kew Collection and the Shirley Sherwood Collection.

However, this exhibition is rather different. It celebrates

30 years of collecting contemporary botanical art - via purchase from galleries, auction houses and direct from artists, commissions and gifts from some artists
more than 1,000 artworks collected - in what is now by far the largest private collection of botanical art in the world; and
a new book about the collection! (review to follow tomorrow)

As such this exhibition has a much more personal feel. It's also organised by geographical area - in terms of where the artists live rather than where the plant comes from - with notes from Dr Sherwood about how she met artists in the different countries - which provides insight into how the collection developed over time.

(Note: It struck me that it would be interesting to see another exhibition - with artwork organised by plant family. I don't think we've had one since The Art of Plant Evolution).

I've never ever seen so many artworks in the galleries - and one senses from the number of artworks in the exhibition that it's been very difficult to prune the list of artworks that Dr Sherwood wanted to include in the exhibition!

The net effect is that the exhibition is quite overwhelming - meaning it takes quite a long time to get round and do it justice!

Gallery 1: Australasia - Paintings by Paul Jones, Susannah Blaxill, Annie Hughes and Julie Nettleton

This is only an overview. As I was walking around I very quickly decided that it would be absolutely impossible to do it justice in one blog post/review. Over lunch at the Pavilion Restaurant I tried to work out what to do. I've decided to repeat what I did with the lists of the artists whose work is on display - and do each gallery and geographical area in turn.

As a minimum (i.e. there may be more!), I will review each gallery exhibition in turn - one country or continent each week. I'm not quite sure of the order yet - maybe the one I followed as I viewed the exhibition late last week. For the record:

Gallery 1 - Australasia
Gallery 2 - Europe
Gallery 3 - North America
Gallery 4 - Latin America
Gallery 5 - Britain
Gallery 6 - South Africa and Asia

I hope to be able to add into these reviews some photos of the artists who will be at the private view evening next week.

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Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art #5: South African Artists

17/11/2019

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Find out about the South African artists whose artwork has been selected for display in the new exhibition Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art at Kew Gardens - which celebrates 30 years of collecting 1,000+ artworks for the Shirley Sherwood Collection of Contemporary Botanical Art.

This is the fifth in my series of posts about the artists in the exhibition.

Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art #1: British Artists
Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art #2: North and Latin American Artists (USA, Canada Brazil and Mexico)
Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art #3: European Artists
Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art #4: Artists from Asia
today's post is about artists from South Africa
the final post is about artists from Australia and New Zealand

This retrospective exhibition of Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art is at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at Kew Gardens. It opened yesterday and continues until 15th March 2020.

Margaret de Villiers with her RHS Gold Medal winning Cape Ericas in 2016

Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art
#5: South African Artists

Below you can find:

the names of artists whose work is displayed - with a link to their website embedded in their name (or a link to a dedicated page on my website for some of the deceased artists)
a short profile of each artist - focusing on their achievements. Those who have achieved more get longer profiles!
the names of the plants in their artwork which has been selected for the exhibition. Where plants have been featured in previous books by Dr Sherwood this is noted next to the name.

Also noted is the number of artworks each artist has in the collection.

Fay Anderson
(3 works in the SS Collection)
b. in 1931 in Lahore in what was then northern India and is now Pakistan. Educated in India and England. She emigrated to South Africa in 1952 and now Lives in Cape Town. Studied at the Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town achieving a Diploma in Fine Arts in 1955. She has always worked as a freelance botanical artist. In 2013, she was awarded the Kirstenbosch Biennale Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her very considerable contribution to South African botany and raising awareness of South African flora in the last 50 years. Fay’s work is represented in a number of important collections including the Hunt Institute and Missouri Botanical Gardens, St Louis in the (USA), The Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, London (UK); South African National Biodiversity Institute in Pretoria and Cape Town as well as the Shirley Sherwood Collection at Kew Gardens. Has contributed illustrations to many different publications and two of her illustrations also appear in Blunt and Sterne’s The Art of Botanical Illustration. Contributed work to two exhibits by the Botanical Research Institute South Africa which were awarded two RHS Gold Medals in 1980 and 1984.

Nivenia stokoei (A Passion for Plants, page 30)

Sibonelo Chiliza
Born in 1979 in Mtwalume (near Port Shepstone). In 2000 he enrolled at the Durban University of Technology to study Textile Design and Technology. In 2004 he spent a three-month internship at the Durban Botanical Gardens, followed by a six-month internship at the National Herbarium. Subsequently employed to manage the scanning and databasing of the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) Pretoria art collection. He has worked on images for three books, taken part in several group exhibitions and won awards in the three SANBI Kirstenbosch Biennials that he has participated in. He also now has work in the Shirley Sherwood Collection. (1 work in the collection)

Paint brush lily 2012 Scadoxus puniceus

Gillian Condy GM (with SANBI 1986, 1990, 1993, 1997, 1999, )
(5 works in the SS collection)
b.1952 in Nairobi. Grew up in England. Diploma in graphics and scientific illustration at Middlesex Polytechnic plus MA by project ('British Poisonous Plants') at Royal College of Art. Recently retired as the resident botanical artist for the South African National Botanical/Biodiversity Institute (1983-2017). Has participated in over 180 group exhibitions worldwide and contributed to numerous publications including Curtus's Botanical Magazine. Awarded the Jill Smythies Award from the Linnean Society (1990) plus seven RHS Gold Medals and two Gold Medals at the Kirstenbosch Biennale. Exhibited at the 7th International at the Hunt. One of the founding members of the Botanical Artists Association of Southern Africa. (see also A new aloe species named after Gillian Condy. Invited to contribute to the Highgrove and Transylvanian Florilegia under the auspices of the Prince's Trust and features in the Sydney Florilegium. Her work is also in numerous private collections. This is an article about her.

Turk's Cap Aloe 2007/16 Aloe peglerae - see below

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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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TODAY is the Worldwide Day of Botanical Art 2018

18/5/2018

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You can see where all the exhibitions of botanical art are In 25 countries on six continents - together with any links I have to the activities today - the Worldwide Day of Botanical Art 2018 - all on one page on this website.

The page is organised by continents and countries as listed below.

If there are more flyers and/or videos out there which need to be added in please send them to me.

AFRICA

Southern Africa

ASIA

China
Indonesia
Japan
Republic of Korea
Thailand

AUSTRALASIA

Australia
New Zealand

EUROPE (Western)

France
Germany

EUROPE (Eastern)

Russia
Ukraine

THE AMERICAS - Central America and the Caribbean

Bermuda
Costa Rica
Mexico

THE AMERICAS - North America

THE AMERICAS - South America

Brazil
Chile
Colombia

For more about the Botanical Art Worldwide initiative you should view

EITHER the dedicated Official Website which has comprehensive information about the purpose of the exhibition and exhibitions in other countries
OR the official Facebook Page
OR the World Wide Exhibition of Botanical Art 2018 page - on this website - which has brief details about all the exhibitions on ONE page

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Selected Southern African Artists (Botanical Art Worldwide #9)

2/4/2018

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This post contains the names of the artists whose work has been selected for Botanical Art Worldwide - Southern Africa - an exhibition of plants indigenous to Southern Africa, as part of the Botanical Art Worldwide initiative.

What I think is the largest exhibition to date - of those who have announced details - will be hosted by the Botanical Artists Association of South Africa and held at the Everard Read Gallery in Johannesburg from 17th May to 9th June 2018.

It will officially open on 17th May.

The image chosen for the exhibition logo (below) is Mandala mundii by the Cape botanical artist Christiaan Lochner

The Exhibition and eligible artwork

The Exhibition Steering Committee comprises two representatives from each region:

Gauteng: Gillian Condy and Karen Bryden
Western Cape: Vicki Thomas
KwaZulu Natal: Snooks Cole and Elsa Pooley

Entries were invited from all BAASA members in good standing, residing in Southern Africa and from talented botanical artists working in South Africa or neighbouring countries.

Eligible artwork depicts any botanical material indigenous within the boundaries of southern Africa:

i.e. from within the boundaries of: South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique
including all types of plant material from shrubs and trees to grasses, flowers, lichen, mosses and fungi (but not cultivated hybrids)

In addition, in collaboration with the Miniature Art Society of South Africa a small collection of botanical miniature paintings will be included.

Features of the exhibition:

A printed catalogue is being produced for the exhibition.
There will be demonstrations on the 18th May by some of the participating artists.

The Selection Process

Artwork was selected as follows:

All artists were invited to submit a maximum of 4 paintings in either the large painting category or the miniature painting category or both.
Selection for this exhibition was conducted in Johannesburg and Cape Town, with artists from elsewhere submitting digitally.
83 botanical artists have been selected to display work on the exhibition
226 art works will be presented.

Selected artists re. artwork of plants native to Southern Africa

Gillian Condy Adenium boehmianum Bushman’s Poison

I have to say I was absolutely AMAZED when I got the listing of selected artists from Gillian Condy, the curator of the Botanical Art Worldwide Exhibition in South Africa. It's very evident that a lot of artists in Southern Africa have been working very hard for this exhibition.

The following list contains the names of the exhibiting artists from Southern Africa whose botanical artworks of plants indigenous to Southern Africa have been selected for the Botanical Art Worldwide Exhibition 2018 in Johannesburg.

A link to the website of the artist (or a more detailed profile of the artist) is embedded in the name (if available).
Brief profiles of the artists are summarised where available. The Plant 2016 catalogue was used for those with a profile and no website
The number of artworks by the artist in the exhibition is listed after their surname in brackets e.g. (3)

NOTE: I'm hoping to add the plant names in but need the information in a different format for that to happen

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List of artists exhibited in "Abundance, seed pods and autumn fruit" at Kew

9/3/2018

This post puts on record all those artists who contributed to Abundance, seed pods and autumn fruit at the The Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art in Kew Gardens before it ends on Sunday March 11th 2018.

The exhibition is open this weekend 10am to 5pm (last admission 4.45pm). It includes artwork by botanical artists and illustrators from Australia, Brazil, France, Italy, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, UK and USA.

Left: Custard Apple by Álvaro Xavier Núñez; next Pomegranates by Ann Schweizer; Right: two paintings of the Ivy Gourd and Bitter Gourd by Phansakdi Chakkaphak

Like many of the smaller exhibitions in the side corridors of the gallery Abundance, seed pods and autumn fruit does not have a catalogue and there is also no list of artists and artworks available at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery.

However I've been given a set of the labels used for the exhibition and was able to discus the plants in the exhibition with Shirley Sherwood.

This was supposed to have been written in November last year - and here we are at the last weekend! Which will teach me not to mistake uploading images of the artists with their paintings to Facebook after the Private View with the rather longer(!) task of sorting out this type of blog post.

Explanation of the exhibition - and how dispersal occurs via wind, water, animals and explosive mechanisms

How this list of artists in the exhibition works

I did think of ordering works by methods of dispersion but that would have got very repetitive in terms of artists names!

So the way it works is like this

The list is alphabetical based on (1) the country they come from and (2) the surname of the artist.
A link to their website (if they have one) is embedded in their name. Alternatively another page has been linked to if this tells you about an artist who doesn't have a website.
an asterisk * after their name indicates they are included in my current summary of artists for the country they live in - where you can read more about them. If the artist is deceased they will be listed in 20th century Botanical Artists in the history section. Those without an asterisk will be added soon!
The name is followed by basic bio data which indicates where they were born and live
This is then followed by the title of the work. The common vernacular name is very often followed by the correct latin name in italics, (for more about naming plants see Plant Names and Botanical Latin in the Botany section on this website)
Media: All paintings are watercolour on paper unless otherwise stated.
Artwork which has been published in one of Dr Sherwood's books includes the title of the book and page number (in green) after the title
Those who have more than one artwork in the exhibition have the titles of the works bullet pointed below their names.

Some of the plants have interesting stories or names and these are also highlighted.

Names of the Artists and Titles of the Artworks

Australia

Second from left is the Idiot Fruit Idiospermum australiense painting by Betty Hinton

Betty Hinton b.1935 Gin Gin, Queensland
Betty has painted a group of 'plant dinosaurs' from the tropical forest reserve at Daintree, north of Cairns

Idiot Fruit Idiospermum australiense - gouache and watercolour on paper A Passion for Plants, pg 107 AND The Art of Plant Evolution page 74 and 75

This very ancient plant has huge and heavy seeds. It was first discovered in the nineteenth century and then "lost" again as land was cleared. The fruit is classed as very poisonous by the Aborigines. If eaten by cattle they go mad. The tree is 15 metres tall and the flowers can only be retrieved by somebody climbing the tree to the top to cut off flowering branches - which is what happened in relation to this painting.

Mali Moir GM b.1960

Ovuliferous Scale Bunya Pine Nut Araucaria bidwillii 2014 Watercolour on deer vellum

Jenny Phillips GM b.1949

Corymbia ficifolia 1998 Watercolour on vellum
Sausage Tree Kigelia africana 1999

Brazil

Far Left: Seed Pod, Cardiocrinum giganteum by Robert McNeill. Far right: Two works by by Alvaro E. X. Nunes - Cybistax antisyphilitica and Zeyheria montana

Álvaro Xavier Núñez b.1945 Annapolis, Brazil
One the best known of the contemporary Brazilian botanical artists, Álvaro specialises in painting plants from all the different ecosystems within Brazil - and has seven paintings in the exhibition.

Custard Apple Annona crassiflora 2003 The Art of Plant Evolution page 72 and 73
Cybistax antisyphilitica 2008 Old and New South American Botanical Art page 134 It's a popular Brazilian tonic in the treatment of syphilis and in yaws and its leaves are used to dye cloth blue.
Kapok Tree Ceiba speciosa 2003 Old and New South American Botanical Art page 126
Dioclea violacea 2009 Old and New South American Botanical Art page 135
Fruits of Savannah A Passion for Plants page 156 This might be described as a symphony in browns, the painting displays exquisite tonal control.
"Monkey Pot" Lecythis pisonis This plant is a tropical tree in the Brazil nut family and the fruit has a tight fitting lid which burst open when ready. The common name comes from the fact Monkeys put their hand into to retrieve the nuts. Adults learn that they need to be sparing in how many they take out at one time.
Zeyheria montana 2008 Old and New South American Botanical Art page 132

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