Jenny Brasier (1936 - 2020)

It's been announced that Jenny Brasier GM passed away at the end of December 2020.

Her achievements in the botanical art world included:

• Five Gold Medals (1982, 1988 1989, 1994, 2000) from the Royal Horticultural Society
• The Linnean Society gave her the Jill Smythies Award in 2002
• Her artwork is included in the collections of the Natural History Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, the Royal Horticultural Society and the Shirley Sherwood Collection
• She was one of two contemporary botanical artists whose work was included in the 'Picturing Plants' Exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1995. 
• Her small paintings on vellum appeared in a number of exhibitions at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery.
• She exhibited internationally as well as in the UK - including at the Smithsonian Museum and the Hunt Institute in the USA
• Jenny was one of the botanical artist who contributed to the Highgrove Florilegium for the 60th Birthday of HRH Prince of Wales
• Past Chair of the Eden Florilegium Society
• Founder member of the Society of Botanical Artists in the UK.

Cyclamen intaminatum by Jenny Brasier (Cyclamen intaminatum) Collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum

​A study by Jenny Braiser in the collection of the V&A Museum.
"This is a preparatory study for an illustration showing different examples of the cyclamen species painted for publication in the Cyclamen Society Journal. Having produced several working drawings towards the finished plate, the artist decided to record this process by transferring the original work relating to the colour forms of one species--the Cyclamen intaminatum--to a single sheet."
Study Room resource: Botanical illustration | V&A 

Jenny Brasier was born on 9th August 1936 in Alvechurch, England and died on 28th December 2020 in East Sussex. 

She had no formal training in botanical art. However no less a person than Wilfrid Blunt encouraged her to start painting plants and flowers in her later years and became known for her small jewel like watercolour paintings on vellum. 

Her artwork was published in The Art of Botanical Illustration' by Wilfrid Blunt and William Stearn (1994 version):

• her pencil drawing of a leaf of Hosta tardiflora faces the Introduction to the 1994 edition and
• her small watercolours on vellum of a leaf and an acorn appear below the dedication.
• her painting of a Tulip Tree can be found on page 298

"Jenny Brasier is not a professional artist but was encouraged by Wilfrid Blunt and John Whitehead to draw and paint plants (Colour Plate 112); she excels at the portrayal of leaves (see the preliminary pages of this book)."
The Art of Botanical Illustration - page 300

​In addition she was well known for her horticultural endeavours and she illustrated ​Hosta: the flowering foliage plant by Diana Grenfell (1990).

Exhibitions at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art in Kew Gardens include:

• 'British Artists in Shirley Sherwood Collection' (2017/18)
• Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art (2019/20) - see Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art #1: British Artists

"Jenny Brasier’s work is highly versatile and very beautiful with some of her brilliant, jewel-like watercolours on vellum having the intense quality of medieval illuminated manuscripts."
Shirley Sherwood

Cyclamen pseudibericum 1993 by Jenny Brasier - on a sheet of Rory McEwen's Vellum - exhibited at the Modern Masterpieces exhibition at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at Kew in 2019

I've moved my summary about Jenny Brasier from the Botanical Artists in the UK page to the 20th and 21st Century Artists page in the History Section.

NOTE: A Service of Thanksgiving for the Life of Jenny Brasier will be held in Cornwall later in the year "when life will hopefully be a little more normal...."