Botanical Artists in China, India, ​Indonesia, Japan, Nepal, South Korea and Thailand​​

My Botanical Art and Artists website now includes three pages relating to Botanical Art, Artists and Exhibition in Asia:

• Famous Asian Botanical Artists (600-1900) - in China, India and Japan (to date)
• Contemporary Botanical Artists ​in Asia - in China, India, ​Indonesia, Japan, Nepal, South Korea and Thailand​​
• Exhibitions in Asia

The History of Botanical Art in Asia

Banner for Famous Botanical Artists in Asia

Botanical art in Asia has a very long and distinguished history.

Plus it often revolves around a completely different approach to plants

Wilfrid Blunt (the art teacher and historian - not the poet), commenting on this in The Art of Botanical Illustration, says a couple of things I found very helpful to understanding why the artwork and the approach to painting plants is so very different

...flower painting as in independent art, untainted by medical or other practical considerations, began in China as early as the seventh or eighth century AD and was carried on with enthusiasm through these centuries when, in the West, Nature was still an object of mistrust or even fear​Wilfrid Blunt (The Art of Botanical Illustration' - West and East)

and

...the Chinese or Japanese artist approaches the painting of flowers with a humility that is rarely encountered in the West
​Wilfrid Blunt (The Art of Botanical Illustration' - West and East)

Hence coverage of the art on my page about famous botanical painters of the past features:

• differences in techniques as well as 
• who are the famous painters.

I'm hoping to develop sections on Korea and Thailand in the future - and other countries within Asia.

Contemporary Botanical Artists in China, India, ​Indonesia, Japan, Nepal, South Korea and Thailand​​

This week I have:

• added in new sections for Indonesia and Nepal 
• plus I've done a major update of the section relating to Japanese botanical artists

The latter is as a result of meeting a number of them at the reception for the Flora Japonica exhibition. Hence I now have images to go with the brief biographies.  I can also certainly commend the exhibition and the book as being a great way to find our more about Japanese botanical art both past and present.

This photo includes: (left to right): ​

Noriko Watanabe GM, Masumi Yamanaka GM, Asuka Hishiki, Mieko Ishikawa GM, Junko Iwata GM, Mayumi Hashi , Akiko Enokido GM, ?, ?, Kimiyo Maruyama GM, Keiko Yoshida GM and ​Hideo Horikoshi GM

Botanical Artists - past and present

I'm gradually developing the pages on my website about botanical artists across the world - by continent

If you know of an artist who merits inclusion in the pages relating to Asia, please let me know:

• Artists from the past - please use the form at the bottom of the Famous Asian Botanical Artists (600-1900)  page 
• Contemporary artists (any country in Asia) - please contact me with the name and website link to information about the artist and a brief summary of why an artist merits inclusion.

Banner for Contemporary Botanical Artists in Asia

My criteria for which artists get included is that they have achieved a recognised level of excellence.

In broad terms, so far as contemporary artists are concerned, this means the artist has to have

• won an RHS Gold Medal (from the RHS or equivalent) and/or 
• have their botanical artwork included in major international exhibitions and/or notable collections
• otherwise recognised as working at a very high level eg professional illustrator working for a botanical garden

Botanical Artists on other continents

If you're reading this on another continent, you may also be interested to know that, to date I have also started to develop pages about botanical artists across the world. Including :

• in the UK - in England, Scotland and Wales to date - plus contemporary botanical photographers
• in North America - in Canada and the USA
• in Australasia - in Australia and New Zealand
• in Europe - in Austria, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey to date
• in Africa - only in South Africa to date
• in South America - only in Brazil to date

Plus my list of botanical artists - by country - that have exhibited at the International Exhibitions of Botanical Art and Illustration run by the Hunt Institute of Botanical Documentation in Pittsburgh. (see my latest blog post Selected Artists for Hunt 15th International Exhibition)

My web pages are by no means comprehensive as yet - however my aim is that they will be in future.

If you can help me develop them I'd very much appreciate this.

Exhibitions of Botanical Art in Asia

If you have an exhibition of botanical art in Asia which you would like to highlight please contact me with the details.

Typically the exhibitions that I features are associated with museums, botanical gardens or art societies