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Botanical Art

	Original International Fine Art www.artoftheprint.com
Bouquet by Arnold Blanch	Art of The Print - Botanical Art Artist Index	Ex-Libris Harvey Simmonds (Caltha, Ranunculaceae) by Clare Leighton
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Art of The Print Botanical Art Index (A to Z): This page contains a selection of original botanical art created by artists throughout the centuries. The depictions displayed consist of still life studies, ornamental flowers, herbs, fruit, vegetables, trees and other various plants. Our Gallery, Art of the Print / www.artoftheprint.com offers a wide selection of international fine art. We sell original paintings, watercolors, drawings, monotypes, engravings, etchings, lithographs and other mediums of original graphic art. These works of art date from the Renaissance period to the contemporary art period. We guarantee the authenticity of every work of art 100%. Full documentation and certification is provided.

This index page features original floral art created by painters, illustrators, watercolour artists and or original printmakers from the sixteenth century to the late twentieth century. Our collection contains a listing of works by international artists such as the 16th century German artist, David Kandel and his woodcuts for the "Kreuterbuch of Hieronymus Bock", which critically examined a large number of herbs, plants and trees, drawing upon recent investigations and theories by medieval and ancient writers.

A few of the 18th century artists included here are James Sowerby and his engravings for the monumental "Flora Londinensis", the notable eighteenth century female botanical artist, Elizabeth Blackwell who produced her original engravings for the "Herbarium Blackwellianum Emmendatum et Auctum"., which is considered one of the most important delineations of herbs and other medicinal plants created during that period and the school of Georg Ehret with his botanical etchings for the "Phytanthoza Iconographia", also known as the Illustrated Record of Flowering Plants. And of course, we should not fail to make reference to the leading Japanese master of both Kano and Tosa styles, Tachibana Morikuni.

Also listed in this collection are the 19th century original Japanese woodcuts from one of the largest and most famous sets of "Kacho-ga" by Rinsai Utsushi, and mention should also be made of J. Watts, who was the British etcher and engraver for "The Botanical Register".

The 20th century artists can not be denied their place, since they have also created some of the most exceptional botanical works of art in our century. Beginning with, Grace Albee, whose name ranks among the finest American wood engravers of the twentieth century, Mario Avati, the extremely brilliant and meticulous Mezzotint artist, August Fischer, who was highly regarded for his watercolours of landscapes, genre scenes and botanical studies, the superb contemporary American painters, lithographers and etchers, Carl Grupp and Pat Hardy, the contemporary American painter and printmaker, David Kessler, the notable engraver and illustrator, Leonard Lehrer, the important German Expressionist painter and printmaker, Georg Kinzer, the German/American woodcut and linocut artist, Hans Alexander Mueller, Gerard Brender a Brandis, one of Canada's finest contemporary original printmakers and Anne Smith Hook who worked with equal success in block printing, serigraphy, woodcutting, etching and watercolour and the twentieth century Japanese artist of the woodcut, Toshi Yoshida. These are only a few of the artists who have created art depicting floral images featured on this page.

We provide search links to different Categories ranging from old master engravings and original fine art to speciality collecting such as animals, botanicals, genre, maps, military art, posters and advertising, satirical art, sports and many other interests. You can also link to pages focused on the century you prefer or by the artists' nationalities.

The index is set up in alphabetical order by artist's last name. This index contains a complete listing of all the botanical artists included in this website with links to a full description of each item and images when available.

Featured Botanical Artists: We have included a brief artist biography on this page for Marie Berger, Elizabeth Blackwell and James Sowerby You can scroll down or press on the name link to go there. If you wish to view the entire list of the biographies provided, please go to the www.artoftheprint.com (Featured Artist's Biography) page.

View more information and a larger image for Marie Berger's original watercolor.

Still Life with Figure in a Desert Landscape

Marie Berger (Fort Worth, Texas, 1910 - 2002): An Texas painter and printmaker, Marie Berger studied at Texas Christian University, the St. Louis School of Fine Art and at Washington University, Missouri. During her successful career, she exhibited internationally at such institutions as the Bateau Lavar Gallery, Rome, the Rassagna permanente d'arte contemporanea, Veterbo, Italy, the Laguna Gloria, Austin, Texas, the Oklahoma Art Museum and the Fort Worth Art Museum.

Marie Berger was a full member of the Texas Fine Arts Association (Regional Director) and the Texas Watercolor Society. Among the awards presented to her for her art were the Benedictine Award, New York, and the Texas Fine Arts Jurors Award. She also owned and managed the Marie Berger Gallery, Fort Worth, which promoted the works of many rising American and Mexican artists during the 1950's and 1960's.

Among other things, Berger's art is notable for its surrealist elements. In Still Life with Figure in a Desert Landscape, for example, she combines the seemingly incongruous images of a foreground still life composition with the almost infinite lines of perspective of the desert environment. The final result is one of provoking imagery and emotion.

View more information, a larger image and other original hand colored engravings by Elizabeth Blackwell.

Helleborus Major

Elizabeth Blackwell: (Chartrettes, 1872 - Paris, 1909): One of the most remarkable artists of early botanical art, Elizabeth Blackwell (London, 1700- 1759), is said to have become an artist in order to obtain funds to free her husband, Dr. Alexander Blackwell, from debtors' prison. Hearing that a work upon plants with medicinal qualities was needed, She made frequent trips to the nearby Chelsea Physic Garden to observe and draw the plants. Elizabeth compiled 'A Curious Herbal', with the support of Sir Hans Sloane and the help of Philip Miller and others. She was also amongst the first botanical artists to actually engrave her own designs rather than hiring a professional engraver. Altogether, the undertaking took her six full years to complete and in the end she was able to free her husband. Unfortunately, he went to Sweden several years later and became involved in a political plot and was eventually executed.

The first edition of Blackwell's art was published in London in 1739 under the title of, 'A Curious Herbal'. These original Blackwell engravings hail from the much expanded second edition, published by Jacob Trew in Nuremberg between 1750 and 1760 under the title of, 'Herbarium Blackwellianum Emmendatum et Auctum'. Each engraving was hand-coloured by botanical artists before publication. Besides the obvious beauty of these original engravings, examples from the Herbarium have been cited as perhaps the most important images of herbs and other medicinal plants created during the eighteenth century. One can see from these antique engravings why Elizabeth Blackwell has been called one of England's best early botanical artists.

Dr. Christopher Jacob Trew

Dr. Christopher Jacob Trew was a wealthy physician of Nuremberg who loved flowers and books and proceded to combine his two interests in a series of magnificent volumes. 'Herbarium Blackwellianum Emmendatum et Auctum' (between 1750 and 1760) dealt with herbals and medicinal plants. The examples of works illustrated on this page are from the 'Herbarium Blackwellianum Emmendatum et Auctum'. Another series was 'Plantae Selectae' ( 1750 - 1773) which contained many subjects of botanical interest and the species chosen were mainly for their rarity and novelty. The 'Hortus Nitidissimus' (1750 - 1786) was unlike the previous works. It was one of the greates florilegiums of the eighteenth century and was confined to ornamental flowers. Its aim was to present some of the most magnificent flowers. 'Plantae Selectae' and 'Hortus Nitidissimus' were continued by other editors long after Trew's death in 1769.

Sinapis Arvensis

James Sowerby: London, 1757 - 1822: James Sowerby was the first of a long line of natural-history draughtsmen. He was a student of the Royal Academy Schools and was first apprenticed to the marine painter, Richard Wright. He did not produce his first botanical art until he was about thirty years old. He was discovered and first employed by L'Heritier, where he produced his first plate for L'Heritier's Stripes Novae in 1784.

James Sowerby went on to work for William Curtis and contributed about seventy plates to the first volumes of the Botanical Magazine and about fifty to the fifth part of 'Flora Londinensis' (1777-1798). He not only designed, but also engraved some of the plates for 'Flora Londinensis'. The plates illustrated on this page are a beautiful example of the works of art engraved for 'Flora Londinensis' by Sowerby.

From 1790 onwards he was chiefly occupied in illustrating the works of Sir J. E. Smith and is usually associated with the long series of works that he illustrated for Sir J. E. Smith, in particular the thirty-six-volume 'English Botany, for which Smith wrote the text. By the mid 1790's James Sowerby had established himself as perhaps the finest botanical artist in England

William Curtis

Trained as both a botanist and as an apothecary, William Curtis (1746 - 1799) was responsible for England's three finest series of late eighteenth century botanical art' Flora Londinensis (1777 - 1798) , Assistant Plates to the Materia Medica (1786) and the still surviving publication, The Botanical Register (founded by him in 1787), He also established famous botanical gardens at Lambeth and Brompton.

The monumental Flora Londinensis was published in six massive volumes from 1777 - 1798. It contains some of the largest and most spectacular plates in the history of English botanical art. Each of these original etchings was hand-coloured by watercolourists before publication. With their magnificent sizes and beautiful colours and tonal values, examples from Flora Londinensis have long been cited a crowning achievement of eighteenth century botanical art.

Art of the Print / www.artoftheprint.com sells international fine art. Our collection consists of original paintings, watercolors, drawings, and prints, such as etchings, line engravings, lithographs, aquatints, mezzotints, woodcuts, wood engravings, silk-screens, monoprints, monotypes and other mediums of original art. All of these works of art have been created by prominent and established artists, (painters, illustrators, and printmakers). Their nationalities vary from American to British, Canadian, Czechoslovakian, Dutch, Flemish, French, German, Italian, Mexican, Austrian, Belgium, Israeli, Danish, and Japanese, as well as artists from other countries. The collected works span from the early Renaissance period to the modern and contemporary art period. You can find categories ranging from original fine art to speciality collecting such as animal art, botanical art, genre, portraits, maps, military art, lithographic posters and advertising art, satirical art, sports art and many other areas of interest.

The artist biographies, research and or information pertaining to all the original works of art posted on our pages has been written and designed by Greg & Connie Peters exclusively for our site, (www.artoftheprint.com). Please visit us regularly to view the latest artworks offered for sale. We will soon be posting an update of our most recent research and include the biographical and historical information pertaining to our next collection of original works of art created by artists throughout the centuries. We hope you found the information you were looking for and that it has been beneficial.