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Botanical Blues- a selection of botanical paintings from The Shirley Sherwood Collection
in Gallery 6 - which will be reviewed shortly on my
Botanical Art and Artist News
Blog. This showcases works from botanical artists including Susannah
Blaxhill, Jinyong Feng and Ursula Romero, depicting many remarkable plant
species which can be found in Kew’s Living Collections.
About the Exhibition
This is the largest solo exhibition to date of monumental ceramics in made
by Felicity Aylieff.
It's certainly a "must see" for anybody interested un unusual approaches to creating porcelain, enamelled posts and BIG pots.
I gather the exhibition - which opened at the weekend has attracted large
numbers very keen to see the monumental porcelain.
It's certainly an exhibition quite unlike any other exhibition I've ever seen
of ceramics.
Felicity Aylieff with her monumental Qing Hua porcelain pots
the gardens allow some of the monumental pots to be located outside - and
there are two huge ones right outside the museum (which I couldn't see
last night in the dark) but you can see in
my friend Laurence Hill's photosgraphs of the exhibits
I think overall I'd have preferred to see an emphasis by Kew in its
marketing on the particular aspects of the exhibition which relate to plants
- given that this is a Gallery of BOTANICAL Art - rather than being enticed
by the huge monumental blue and white pots
(see publicity image above) - nice as they are.
In other words, given the exhibition is at Kew and not the V&A,
what's special about the ceramics in relation to plants?
Monumental 'Qing Hua' pots
decorated with cobalt blue chloride The people at the Private View
give an indication of the size of the pots
After five very full days of "full on" art gallery visiting, two press views,
two private views and photographing five exhibitions, plus a hospital
appointment to get my pre-assessment done for more surgery next month, I woke
up this morning feeling really very weird, which then turned into feeling
really rather ill for most of this morning. I'm unable to eat much of
anything. Basically I'm nearly brain dead and my body is rebelling I
think!
So...... My partner pointed out I'd obviously overdone
things (he is apt to do things like that!) - and we've cancelled
today's Sunday Roast.
So...... Despite the fact I'd planned to do
my review of the annual exhibition of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water
Colours today I'm going to restrict myself to brief recommendations relating
to the exhibitions I've seen this week.
If you like dogs...
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Portraits of Dogs from Gainsborough to Hockney
Two exhibitions are worth seeing - they're a total one off and they've never
been done before.
Portraits of Dogs from Gainsborough to Hockney(paintings and videos) - lots of really good portraits of dogs only
(i.e. no humans in sight - apart from this one photo mural on one
wall).
I learned a lot - about artists and dogs! You can find this exhibition on
the Lower Ground Floor
The Queen and her corgis
(photography) located to left of entrance on ground floor. For real fans
of corgis and/or the late monarch.
If you like Paintings in Water Colours
Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours | 211th Exhibition | Mall
Galleries
This RI Annual Exhibition is well worth seeing and can be found in all three galleries at the
Mall Galleries until next Saturday.
It includes 449 artworks on the walls
It had c.4,000 entries - so those selected from the open entry are
mostly very good quality
I've already uploaded a folder of prizewinners and I'm trying today to
upload the photos I took as I walked slowly around the exhibition - by
Gallery
I've not seen it - but the artwork which you can see online suggests they
continue to pick artworks by painters with different 'contemporary'
styles in recent times.
It's emphatically NOT the exhibition it used to be...... They've still
to find halfway adequate replacements for people like
Leslie Worth
and
David Prentice!
If you've only got time to do one, then go to the RI Exhibition.
NEW Exhibitions about Plants
Plants of the Qu'ran - a series of 25 botanical paintings by Sue Wickison
The Wonderful World of Water Plants - botanical art and illustrations
All the Flowers Are for Me - two installations by Anila Quayyum Agha
ALL three Exhibitions are on display at The Shirley Sherwood Gallery |
Kew Gardens until Sunday 17 September 2023.
They opened yesterday, while I was there and there were lots of people
flooding in...
This is the sort of watercolour painting rarely seen in the exhibitions of
the RI or RWS. More's the pity.
This photo, after posting to my
Botanical Art and Artists Facebook Page is currently drawing international admiration from botanical
artists from all over the world - and breaking lots of my FB Page records
for adulation! It's an exhibition which is going to get a lot of visitors!
I'm also going to be reviewing it next week on my
News Blog on Botanical Art and Artists. I'll also be publishing a video interview I did with Sue yesterday
morning before the gallery opened.
Sue Wickison with two of her paintings
The Wonderful World of Water Plants - botanical art and
illustrations | Gallery 6
This exhibition focuses on plants which are found:
Botanical art fans are converging on London this week for the RHS Botanical Art Show.
In terms of handing out Gold Medals for Botanical Art this is the most prestigious botanical art show in the world. It effect it's the visual equivalent for botanical artists of the Olympics or the World Cup! Absolutely nothing else presents the same sort of challenge!
That's why in recent days botanical artists have jetted into London from all around the globe - to try and capture that elusive RHS Gold Medal. That said, we've got quite a few Gold Medallists who are returning to see if they can enhance their credibility by winning another one!.
Medals are being awarded as I write - and I'll be there at this evening's reception.
View of part of last year's exhibition in the RHS Lindley Hall Each of the run of panels is an exhibit of a minimum of six works by one artist
Work is graded against various criteria
- but medal colour is often determined by the weakest not the best - so everything has to be excellent!
However, while in London to see this show there is also the most fantastic opportunity to see other top class botanical art exhibitions - and this is a list of the details of everything on offer in London - in terms of botanical art!
Those pursuing other genres might pause for a moment and reflect when there were this many top class of exhibitions in prestigious venues for other subject matter!
Royal Horticultural Society
The RHS Plant and Art Fair (10-12 July 2018) includesthree international exhibitions of botanical art and photography. These are:
Plus this is information about how the RHS Botanical Art Show works for those aspiring to show in 2020 (you're already too late for 2019!). It's the only show I know where you have to be approved BEFORE you can submit your artwork
This is also a show where it pays to sort your visa out in good time..... It loosk like we might have lost one exhibitor to visa problems at the UK end.... - which will be very disappointing
This is a video I made of last year's Botanical Art Show
The number of botanical artists this year - per country is as follows:
19 x UK + 1 group
7 x Japan
4 x Korea
2 x Italy
2 x New Zealand
2 x Turkey
and one each from Australia, Austria, Brazil, Hong Kong, Thailand and the USA
The RHS Botanical Photography Show
Venue: RHS Lawrence Hall, Greycoat Street, Westminster
Dates: 10-12 July 2018
Venue: RHS Lindley Library 80 Vincent Square LONDON SW1P 2PE
Dates: 5 July - 17 August 2018
This is the "must see" for every visitor to the Botanical Art Show - if for no other reason than it is adjacent to the show in RHS HQ in Vincent Square.
Worth a Thousand Words - exhibition at the RHS | Botanical Art and Artists - about the previous Gold Medal winners whose gold-medal winning work acquired by the RHS is in this small exhibition.
Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew
There are two exhibitions on display at the moment - in the same place and for the same dates.
The Florilegium: The Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney
This is an exhibition by the Florilegium Society of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney. It was originally mounted at the RBGS Gardens in Sydney in 2016 as part of the 200th anniversary of the Botanic Gardens.
Part of the Florilegium exhibition at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at Kew
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - This is a world class exhibition and sets a very high standard for exhibitions by Florilegia
Down Under II: Works from the Shirley Sherwood Collection
The second exhibition - Down Under II: Works from the Shirley Sherwood Collection - is a follow on from the first exhibition of artwork in the Shirley Sherwood Collection of native Australian and New Zealand plants created by local and international botanical artists.
When I last visited besides the examples of botanical artwork by many of the great artists from the past there were some paintings of natural habitat by Barbara Nicolson and a reproduction of a watercolour painting of orchids by the late Pandora Sellars
Orchids (1985) by Pandora Sellars (1936-2016)
Rumanian Cultural Institute
The exhibition of botanical paintings included in the Transylvania Florilegium has returned for July and August
Finally for the true and dedicated fans there are some excellent artworks by botanical artiosts from England, Scotland, Australia and the USA on display at Jonathan Cooper's 30th anniversary exhibition in Chelsea
Venue: Jonathan Cooper Gallery, 20 Park Walk, Chelsea, London, SW10 0AQ
Dates: 12 - 21 July 2018
Gallery Opening Times: Mon – Fri (10 – 6.30pm); Sat (11 – 4pm) Closed Bank Holidays
The exhibition is about the paintings of fruit, vegetables, seeds and nuts in the collection of Dr. Shirley Sherwood.
The flowers which are included are those which include the method used for propagation associated with the flower - which is usually seeds or seeds within berries.
The Yellow Lotus painting by Beverley Allen anchors a wall of tropical plants in the main gallery
It's complemented by works from the collection of Kew. I'm going to focus on paintings owned by Shirley Sherwood for this review
many of these paintings and some paintings on show are the culmination of months of observation, waiting for a pear or apple to ripen so that every stage can be shown.
It's perhaps pertinent to comment that one of the aims of very many botanical artists is to have their work added to this very important and prestigious collection. It is after all a collection which prompted the very first gallery of botanical art in the world.
After that the next aim is for it to be exhibited in one of the exhibitions of works in her collection at Kew! Dr Sherwood has after all got some c.1,000 paintings in the collection from 25 years of collecting. It's a very real distinction for a botanical artist to have your work chosen for one of her exhibitions at Kew.
[As with the 2015 RHS review, the illness and demise of two much loved and aged kitties accounted for a very odd year last year when it came to reviewing exhibitions. Which explains why I'm only reviewing it now.]
I saw it for the first time last week but was extremely impressed. I found I lingered a tad too long with my magnifier on some paintings which had me intrigued as to technique and skill in both drawing and painting. So I'm going to try and get back to see it again next week before it closes.
One thing worth mentioning is that the exhibition is beautifully hung with clear themes emerging as you go round. These are not announced to you - the gallery allows you to be intelligent and detect the gentle shift from one type of subject to another. Plus it looks good too!
The Featured Artists and Works
One of the things I particularly like about The Shirley Sherwood Collection is the fact that we get to find out about botanical artists from all around the world.
There isn't a book to go with the exhibition. That's because you can also see many of the works in this exhibition - except more recent acquisitions - in her two books 'A Passion for Plants' and 'A New Flowering'. For those of us who are huge fans of the books it's a real pleasure to be able to see the paintings 'up close and personal'.
However I do think it's a pity that we don't have a public record of the artists featured in the exhibition and the works on display. The gallery kindly sent me the labels for the paintings in the exhibition from the gallery so I could make sure I spelt all the artists' names correctly as some of them were new to me. It occurred to me I could create that public record - which is so important for credibility in terms of exhibitions. Hence the list of featured artists and works below.
You will find below that
featured artists are listed by the country they live in
Links to the websites (or related sites) of the artists are embedded in their name. Some of these took some tracking down!
All the works identified are watercolour on paper unless otherwise indicated in captions
Quotations identified after an artist's name and paintings are brief and from the artist's website.
Images:
Gallery shots copyright Katherine Tyrrell (by permission of The Shirley Sherwood Galley)
It's always really interesting to see the different approaches - in terms of style and media- used by the botanical artists of another country. The "Flowering Bulbs and Tubers" exhibition by the Dutch Society of Botanical Artistscan be seen in Galleries 2, 3 and 4 at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery in Kew Gardens. It provides an excellent opportunity to view how the Dutch do it - and they do it very well! The work on display is excellent and the standard of presentation was also very good.
Lots of reds, pinks and purples in this exhibition
If you visit you can also see two other exhibitions before all three close on the 9th August. (Apologies for the late reviews!)
I must do a blog post at some point outlining the process for getting accepted for an exhibition and how the process works!
General Observations
The focus of the exhibition is flowering bulbs and tubers - a somewhat predictable choice for the Netherlands. I noted the following as I viewed the exhibition.
there were a lot of drawings and paintings which involved roots - and it's clear that some artists consider this as much a design challenge as anything else.
I was particularly struck by how much pink and purple - of every hue and tonal range - could be seen in the exhibition. I wasn't too clear whether this was due to personal choices or reflects the colours which tend to be chosen for cultivation.
Below you will find images and comments - plus the names of the artists whose artwork I liked and links to their websites.
At the end is a note about the Society.
I liked the 'almost' uniformity of the framing used for the exhibition.
It really helped to give it a sense of a coherent identity.
On the right is Fritillaria persica in coloured pencil by Sigrid Frensen
In the photo at the top you can see Tulipa 'Zomerschoon' by Anita Walsmit Sachs (b. 1948). It demonstrates very fine gradations of colour in the leaves and shows all stages of growth of the tulip in five blooms. Anita has worked at the Nationaal Herbarium of the University of Leiden as chief of the art department since 1998. Her pen and ink drawings have been published in numerous scientific publications and she has received an RHS gold medal. She was also the perdon who led the formation of the Society.
There's some considerable interest in pencil artwork on the Netherlands
Sigrid Frensen (b1972) has a coloured pencil drawing of Fritillaria Persica which demonstrated very fine pencil work and sinewy growth from bloom to bud. This is Sigrid's blog post about it called 'I love big bulbs and can not lie' where you can see a bigger version of the drawing.
Ineke Smeets's contribution wastwo coloured pencil drawings of allium which were extremely well done. They had a very spare and elegant design - you can see one in her website portfolio.
Nicolien Bottema-Mac Gillavry (b1941) I can't quite make sense of my notes and wonder if the autocorrect in Evernote has been misbehaving again (it's not very tuned to Latin!) Anyway I've got a note of a work which I have down as "Chrysalis cava". My notes also say it's an attractive botanical illustration in watercolour minus the size indicators on dissections.
There were also some some great graphite drawings by Els Hazenberg-Meertens (b1942) - see below
Left and Centre - graphite drawings by Els Hazenberg
'Chasms (?) the floribunda' and 'Hippeastrum hybrid'
Note: the Vereniging van Botanisch Kunstenaars Nederland is the Dutch name for the Dutch Society of Botanical Artists. It was founded in 2006 and celebrates its 10th anniversary next year. The Society was formed from a small group of enthusiastic professional and non-professional artists from across the Netherlands with a keen interest in botanical drawing - 44 in total. Most had attended Anita Walsmit Sach's courses at the Botanical Garden at Leiden. Since then they have progressed and developed, and many initiatives have been undertaken to achieve their aims:
To provide information about botanical art and to bring it to the attention of as wide a public as possible
To bring together botanical artists, illustrators and anyone interested in botanical art.
To improve the quality of botanical art in the Netherlands
The group now numbers 170, Members have the opportunity to attend courses by reputable botanical art tutors from other countries - notably the UK. Past visiting tutors have included Valery Oxley (2009), Anne Marie Evans (2010 & 2012), Elaine Searle (2011), Jenny Phillips (2013 Australia), and Helen Allen (2014).
The Joy of Spring is coming to an end at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art. The last day of the exhibition is the 9th August after which the gallery closes for the installation of the next exhibition. It's an exhibition which is well worth seeing...
The Joy of Spring features a sequence of glorious paintings of spring flowers, each selected from the contemporary Shirley Sherwood Collection. This exhibition displays an array of wonderful spring flowers, from snowdrops through to magnolias and camellias. Iconic spring blooms such as daffodils and bluebells will also be included in the exhibition.
For those who have not seen it you can find some highlights below.
I made notes on my iPhone while going round of the artists whose work I found particularly attractive and/or interesting. While looking up the best links online to each artist I discovered some more information about them - which you can also find below.
One of the interesting things I noted when matching paintings to artists' websites is that there appear to be absolutely no records of the paintings bought by Shirley Sherwood on their websites. Nor do they seem to be available as prints. Just a thought for those aspiring to join the collection one day.
I found it interesting comparing the styles of paintings of different artists. Some make them completely lifelike while some are rather over stylised so that they look 3D but somehow don't look too real - perhaps because they are too perfect. I wonder if this reflects the change in tastes and styles of botanical painting over time?
My favourite painting is Susan Christopher Coulson's 'The Winter Garden, scented twigs and feisty flowers' which captures perfectly all those flowers which are part of the transition from winter to spring. I'm also a huge fan of her compendium drawings which are always designed both thoughtfully and effectively. I always spend ages staring at her artwork.
'The Winter Garden, scented twigs and feisty flowers'
Kate Nessler's snowdrops on vellum. This is A Conversation with Kate Nessler By Joyce Westner which originally appeared in The Botanical Artist – Volume 15, Issue 1 (on the ASBA website)
an amazing painting of a horse chestnut by Martin J Allen
a dandelion by Italian artist Marilena Pistoia(b.1933). The Hunt Collection has a considerable number of paintings by Marilena Pistoia due to an exhibition of her Botanical Watercolors held at the Hunt in 1989/90.
This exhibition featured selected artworks done by Marilena Pistoia of Modena, Italy, for three publications: F. Bianchini and F. Corbetta, I Fruitti della Terra (The complete book of fruits and vegetables) and Le Piante della Salute (Health plants of the world: Atlas of medicinal plants) and Laura Peroni, Il Linguaggio dei Fiori(The language of flowers), all published in Italy by Arnoldo Mondadori between 1973 and 1984 and subsequently in America by Crown and by Newsweek. The artist donated all the original paintings for these books to the Institute.
Some of the paintings in the exhibition
Far Left: Susan Christopher Coulson
Next: Snowdrops by Kate Nessler
A huge wonderful painting of dandelions and other flowers by Rosie Sanderscalled ferns bluebell wild garlic yellow archangel and dandelion
There is a stunning pink rhododendron painted in gouache on black paper by Sally Kier(who died in 2007). Her obituary in The Guardian notes...
She was commissioned by Shirley Sherwood, a renowned collector of botanical art, to paint a pink rhododendron, which featured in her worldwide exhibition of botanical art in 1997. Her paintings were also included in the gouache section of Margaret Stevens' book, The Art of Botanical Painting. She sold more than 450 works, and several of her paintings were used as greetings cards and sold commercially.
Mieko Ishikawa's painting of flowering cherries (Prunus pendula) is impressive. She apparently paints within three themes only: “Flowering Cherries of Japan”, “Tropical Rainforest Plants of Borneo” and “Conifers.” There's a nice article about her on the ASBA site - Mieko Ishikawa's Story Behind the Art which focuses on her painting of the mysterious Rafflesia, a parasite of vines in Borneo.
There's a delightful painting by Pandora Sellers of Snakeshead fritillaries and cowslips
Jessica Tcherepnine's 'Crown Imperial' looks as if it's dancing! The leaves are wonderful.
I now know why Katie Lee was chosen to do a painting of Isaac Stern's favourite Dogwood Tree - as featured on the cover of his exhibition catalogue! Dr Sherwood got there first!
TIP Do one painting really well and others will commission you to do more!
There's a painting by Johann Christoph Dietzsch(1710 - 1769) of apple blossom - painted using watercolour and body colour on prepared vellum with a dark background. According to this article in The Economist - this is the artist who prompted Dr Sherwood to break her rule to only buy work by contemporary artists.
Jones’ major book, Flora Superba (1971), published in the same year that he was awarded an OBE for his services to art, carried a preface from Sir George Taylor, Director of London’s Kew Gardens: ‘They are technically astounding, scientifically exact and aesthetically so thoughtful and pleasing that, without risking hyperbole, I would rank them amongst the very finest achievements in the whole gallery of botanical art.”
Olga Makrushenko (b. Russia 1956) has a painting of a deep pink magnolia, painted in mixed media on paper. This is a gorgeous deep pink colour and design and it's a very fine painting (which is second from right below)
Extreme left - In the background is the painting by Paul Jones
and second from right is the painting by Olga Makrushenko
Also included in the exhibition are the working drawings and the finished artwork produced by Julia Trickey for the Royal Mail for the Post and Go Collection - British Flora (Spring Blooms) Stamp Set. Julia has also produced a publication Plant Portraits by Post (Published by Two Rivers Press) about the process and pitfalls of producing the Royal Mail British Flora illustrations. Plus a painting from her last exhibit at the RHS Botanical Art Show.
Julia Trickey's artwork for the Royal Mail's British Flora (Spring Blooms) Stamp Set
View of the main gallery and some of Masumi Yamanaka's paintings
Display boxes contained other drawings, paintings and books about trees in the Kew Collection
Armand's White Pine (Chinese White Pine) and Masumi Yamanaka
- this excellent botanical painting is now in the private collection of
Martyn Rix, Editor of Curtis's Botanical Magazine who contributed the tree descriptions to the book about the exhibition
The Gallery currently has three exhibitions on display - although this is not obvious from the "what's on" on the Kew website. The final day of the exhibitions is 9th August.
They are:
Kew's Heritage Trees (Galleries 1 and 5) - paintings by Masumi Yamanaka
The Joy of Spring (Gallery 6 Paintings from the Shirley Sherwood Collection)
I have no idea why the other two exhibitions are not identified as exhibitions to visit on the Kew Gardens website. However the Kew Gardens website is not easy to navigate and frequently omits information for visitors. I can't work out why this is but it's extremely unhelpful to the fans of botanical art and this is a gallery that gets a lot of visitors!
Below you'll find
a review of Kew's Heritage Trees and there will be another post later in the week about the other two exhibitions
10 facts about Masumi Yamanaka
a big innovation associated with this exhibition!
Review of 'Kew's Heritage Trees'
This exhibition focuses on what are known as the Heritage Trees and include paintings of the trees known as the "Old Lions" which have been living at Kew for over 250 years.
Any regular visiter to Kew will know that the gardens include some really wonderful trees - some of which are very large, some of which are very old and some of which are both!
I know I spend time when visiting Kew enjoying seeing the old and big trees at different stages of their annual life cycle. I've taken more than a few photographs of most of them over the years in part because Kew is somewhere where trees can grow to their full potential and they are simply stunning!
Below is a map of the trees that have been painted and are included in the exhibition.
Location of the Heritage Trees
The majority are related to the location of the Old Arboretum between the Orangery and the Palm House
There is no guide to the Arboretum - and how trees are grouped across the site - or a map of the old trees on the website.
There have been some drawings of the trees done in the past but no one artist has ever attempted to do all the trees as a collection.
Masumi Yamanaka works on a freelance basis at Kew - an "Artist in Residence" - and had felt for some time that the old and treasured trees at Kew needed to be drawn and painted as well as photographed.
Masumi's interest in the trees started when she painted the Indian Bean tree for a portfolio of nine works exhibited at the RHS Botanical Art Show in 2010 - for which she won a gold medal. I particularly enjoyed this series - it's one which certainly ought to be studied by all those aspiring to a gold medal!
A series of paintings of Indian Horse Chestnut Aesculus Indica
She started to paint more of the heritage trees after this project and it's taken her five years to develop the portfolio she has created and which is now on display. Fortunately she managed to capture some of the trees before the big storm in 2013 which damaged a lot of the trees at Kew - including the heritage trees.
It's important to note this was not a commission - this was an initiative by Masumi.
MY TIP for botanical artists: When thinking about what to do for a project why not try something nobody has done before - which also has links to the historical or iconic or both?
Not all the paintings are of the full tree although there are some significant paintings of the shapes of some of them. Other paintings focus on the shapes of leaves and seeds and/or cones - which are beautifully painted. In total they make a very worthwhile collection.
I found the paintings of some of the pines to be quite breathtaking. I also love the fact that as a result of the exhibition I now understand much more about the trees and know more about what I'm looking at on my regular visits to Kew. Plus where to find all the heritage trees - I do hope they put that map on the website!
Initially Masumi asked whether she could do an exhibition of her paintings in one of the side galleries. However after Kew saw what she had produced - she's now done 40 paintings - they decided that she could have the main gallery for the exhibition!
View of the exhibition in the main gallery of the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art
This is a video about the exhibition
Find out more about the trees and the paintings
The book of the exhibition
I was very fortunate yesterday as
Masumi walked into the exhibition while I was there
However you can:
find out more about the trees on the website:
Kew's Heritage Trees is a blog post which describes the development of the collection and shows some of the paintings next to photographs of the originals.
This blog post - Celebrating the tree - tells us more about some of the artwork from the archives in the existing Kew Art Collection.
The exhibition is rounded off with a publication called 'Treasured Trees' published by Kew. It includes colour plates of the 40 paintings in the exhibition plus a detailed description of each tree and how it came to be included in the Arboretum at Kew. The tree descriptions are written by Martin Rix, Editor of Curtis's Botanical Magazine and the Introduction was written by Christina Harrison, Editor of the Kew Magazine. Read more about it.
10 Facts about Masumi Yamanaka
Masumi Yamanaka with her painting of the Stone Pine - planted in 1846
Since she painted it it has lost three major branches in a big storm in 2013 - proving the worth of painting the tree.
Masumi Yamanaka was born in Japan in 1957 but has lived in London for the last 26 years
The earlier part of her career involved working as a designer for ceramic manufacturers and retailers
She studied botanical art with Pandora Sellars who is a professional botanical painter and illustrator contributing to Curtis’s Botanical Magazine
Her illustration of a Hippeastrum won the SBA's Margaret Grainger Memorial Silver Bowl, is included in the SBA Book 'The Botanical Palette' and now forms part of the Kew Art Collection.
Masumi's botanical artwork has been exhibited in four previous exhibitions Kew’s Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art:
‘Trees’ (Winter 2009)
‘Bulbmania’ (Summer 2010)
‘Kew Artists’ (Spring 2011)
‘Inspiring Kew’ (2014).
Masumi won an RHS Gold Medal in 2010 for her illustrations of Aesculus indica ‘Sydney Pearce’, illustrated from the specimen at Kew. (Note: The exhibition includes the nine paintings exhibited at the RHS)
Her drawings and paintings are held in the collections of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and private collections throughout the world.
She is the Japanese Exhibition Coordinator for the forthcoming exhibition ‘Flora Japonica’ which will be held at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art in 2016.
Masumi has been a freelance artist based in the Herbarium since 2007.
The paintings of the Heritage Trees were done on her initiative. She feels it's important that they should become part of the Kew Collection - especially as some
Sponsor one of the paintings
One of the innovations with this exhibition is definitely worth talking about.
Each piece depicts one of Kew’s most significant trees and epitomises the living collections here at Kew. We would like to add as many of these pictures to Kew’s art collection as we can. Unfortunately, our current funding will not allow us to purchase more than two of these pieces. So there is a real danger most will be lost to Kew forever. These paintings are a living record of the history of Kew’s Heritage Trees and with this in mind, we have launched a fund to help us to purchase these important pieces, and keep them at Kew.
Masumi can sell these paintings - she wasn't commissioned to do them. On the one hand her income has been limited by the time given over to undertaking this project so it would be great if she could sell some. On the other hand, she feels strongly that the paintings should form part of the Kew Art Collection given the iconic nature of the trees which they portray. However Kew's funding has been cut and can only afford to buy two........
The idea of sponsorship is that a third party - a supporter of Kew and its art collection - pays the not unreasonable prices asked - and the piece is then added to the Art Collection at Kew.
What you get as a sponsor is a certificate, a high resolution print of the painting and an invitation to an event to meet the artist. Plus your name goes on the exhibition label for the painting every time it is exhibited anywhere in the world.....
I know I want my Executors to secure a bench at Kew in my memory when I go - but maybe it's time to think about sponsoring a painting instead?
Why not sponsor one as a gift to celebrate a special birthday, anniversary or event or to commemorate the life of a loved one?
I think both Kew and Masumi are also hoping that in due course international sponsors might want to try and get the exhibition overseas. It's certainly well worth it - I've never seen another exhibition quite like it.
PS. The next new exhibition at the Gallery will open on 29 August 2015. I've put in my diary!
Last month I was given a tour of the Alisa and Isaac M. Sutton Collection - currently on view as Botanicals - Environmental Expressions in Art the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at Kew Gardens until 19 January 2014. I very much recommend a visit to the exhibition for all botanical artists interested in seeing the artwork selected by a major collector of botanical art.
Part of the Alisa and Isaac M. Sutton Collection in the Main Gallery
I guess most people in botanical art have heard about the wonderful collection of botanical art amassed by Shirley Sherwood - and latterly the Gallery which was built with the support of her family in Kew Gardens.
Isaac M Sutton with his favourite painting in his collection
The Sutton Dogwood, Gouache on paper (2001) by Katie Lee
a commissioned painting of the dogwood which flowers at his home in Brooklyn.
He's planning a series of commissions by different artists to paint the tree at different times of the year
What you might not know is that there another botanical art collection which is also becoming very significant.
Dr Sherwood has been collecting botanical art since 1990 and now has some 851 paintings in her collection.
Isaac M. Sutton saw an exhibition of her collection in New York in 1998 and was "blown away" by the art. He started buying paintings and used her book accompanying the first exhibition as a guide to what to collect. He now has some 270 paintings - and added two more with works from the two Sues (see 'Black and White in Colour' at Kew Gardens - a review). I understand this is now the largest private collection of botanical art in the USA. It includes examples of artwork by leading botanical artists from all over the work.
This exhibition is based on a selection of his works which have been previously exhibited at the Hunt Institute, Pittsburgh, and at the New York Botanic Gardens.
I greatly enjoyed listening to Mr Sutton's stories of what a serious collector has to do to secure an artwork!
He has a very clear view that botanical art should be collected to live with and he hangs his on the walls of his home. He also pointed out that a private collector has a very real advantage over institutional collections in the sense that the decisions he makes about what to purchase doesn't have to fulfil any criteria other than his own. His aim is to have paintings which appeal to him since he intends to hang a painting in his home. He wants to see technical excellence in terms of both the botany and the painting. He's also interested in paintings which contribute important records of current plant life. Finally he's very pleased if a painting has a composition which attracts the eye.
This personal set of criteria had led to some purchases of some stunning works which beckon you to come and look at them from the other side of the gallery. At the same time he has acquired some very fine small paintings of exquisite detail. I also particularly liked the way he has purchased multiple paintings of the same plant (e.g. the snow eucalyptus) and multiple studies (e.g. those by Elaine Musgrave) which is not something one often sees in exhibitions of botanical art.
Having met Mr Sutton in the afternoon, I had the pleasure of introducing him to Sandra Armitage, the President of the Society of Botanical Artists at the evening reception for the Private View. I think there might just be an invitation to come to a future exhibition of the SBA winging its way to Mr Sutton in the future!
You can also see the works in the Collection on its dedicated Facebook Page. Artists who have paintings in the collection include the following. Click the link to their websites in their name to see more of their artwork. Click the link in the name of the plant or flower to see its image on Facebook.
Black and White in Colour
Paintings by Sue Wickison
I can highly recommend a visit to the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew to see 'Black and White in Colour' - an exhibition of art for sale by two botanical artists Sue Wickison and Sue J Williams. These two artists are extremely well travelled and have painted botanical flora all over the world.
The exhibition opened last month and continues until Sunday 5 January 2014 - so plenty of time to see it and maybe to buy a gift for Christmas!
Below you can see more images of the artists and their work.
In part it was because I wanted to let the exhibition settle in my head - to see what I remembered best about if after I left.
That's in part because of being so blown away with the quality of his work.
Regular readers will also recall the exhibition opened just after I had surgery for cataracts and I was still adjusting to life with new lenses in my eyes but no new glasses (until July) - and the impact that had on my blogging.
Rory McEwen started painting flowers when he was eight years old. Before he left school at Eton, he had already established a reputation of being a brilliant botanical artist. While studying at Cambridge University he was also engaged in producing a series of heritage carnations and pinks as a commission - age 21 in 1953 - while also appearing in the Footlights Review with Jonathan Miller!
the first works of a young painter and a remarkable achievement when it is considered that all the drawings were done in the short period of one year.... it is we hope the happy harbinger of further works to comeSacheverell Sitwell 1955
His work is both very precise and exact in botanical terms and at the same time he has the ability to make every painting be a work of art rather than just a botanical illustration. I have rarely seen botanical art which is technically so well executed. However it's not of the strictly botanical illustration variety - which is not to say that it's not botanically correct because it is. Rather each work comes across as a work of aesthetics and meditation.
One of the things he is most adept at is his awareness of the importance of empty space and his placement of the subject matter on his support.
probably the greatest living illustrator of natural form Alistair Mackintosh (wrote prior to McEwen's death age 50 of cancer)
There are some pieces which absolutely take your breath away. I was completely in awe of the two fritillaries in the main room. They seemed to have moved into a whole new league of botanical art.
