Transcript Botanical Illustration

Botanical Illustration
Life Captured on Paper
Elaine Yau
CS99D
Problems In Botanical Illustration
 Early Botanicals, or
Herbals
 Grete Herbal, 1526
 Reused Woodblocks
 Crude and clumsy
illustrations
 Text-based
Problems In Botanical Illustration
 Specific or Generic?
 Otto Brunfels’
Herbarum Vivae Eicones,
1530-35
 Specificity & Realism
 Little distortion
 Good news: people are
starting to look at real
plants!
Problems In Botanical Illustration
 Specific or Generic?
 Leonhart Fuchs’ De
Historia Stirpium, 1542
 Idealized plant
 All parts and seasonal
changes depicted on
same plant
 True to the real, live
thing
What’s Wrong?
What’s Wrong?
 Hawthorn, 1583
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Woodcut, Fuchs’ style
Distorted
Cropped trunk
Horizontally
compressed
 Limitations of medium
Dutch and Flemish Paintings
 Era of Exploration
 1500s-1600s
 Discovery of new
species
 Hybridization,
collecting
 New Wealth
 Leisure time for
collecting and
recording plants of
rarity and beauty
 Commissioning
extravagant bouquets
Dutch and Flemish Paintings
Jan Davidsz. De Heem
Vase of Flowers, c.1660
Dutch and Flemish Paintings
Dutch and Flemish Paintings
Dutch and Flemish Paintings
Rachel Ruysch
Still Life with
Snake, c.1685
Florigelia
 “Flower Books”
 Singular Beauty of the
flower
 Decorative
 Pattern books for
applied arts
 Georg Dionysius
Ehret’s Parrot Tulip,
1744
Florigelia
 Pierre-Joseph Redouté
 Opium Poppy, 1827
 Stippled engraving
 Softness, light, and
shadow
Horticultural Illustration
 Directed to the hobbyist,
gardener, and florist
 Focus on Color
 Appeared in ads and seed
packets
 Recalls Dutch Painting
 Also reduced to flat geometric
forms – defined by color
 More aesthetic than scientific
Carl Linnaeus
 Formalized
classification system
 Based on reproductive
parts
 Flowers, Fruits, Leaves
 Hortus Cliffortianus, 1738
 Illustrations
complement text
Linnaean Method
 Selective Illustration
 Unlike Brunfels or
Fuchs
What about photography?
Photographs & Real life Images
Field Guide
Photographs & Real life Images
Nature Print
Photographs & Real life Images
Cyanotype
What’s the best way?
 Specific vs. general
What’s the best way?
 Specific vs. general
 Flawed vs. idealized
What’s the best way?
 Specific vs. general
 Flawed vs. idealized
 Whole vs. partial
What’s the best way?
 Specific vs. general
 Flawed vs. idealized
 Whole vs. partial
 Real Life vs. Illustration
The End