Featured Stories
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The Marianne North Gallery displays her life's work depicting more than 900 species of plants.
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As well as being beautiful, botanical illustrations are used as important scientific records.
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An exhibition showing how Rory inspired contemporary artists
Showcasing Kew's Collections
Kew's Library has more than 200,000 watercolours, prints and drawings, including original works of art in various media. These range in date from the great masters of botanical illustration of the 18th century, such as G.D. Ehret, P.J. Redouté and the Bauer brothers, through to Thomas Duncanson, George Bond and Walter Hood Fitch in the 19th century. The collections also include the work of 20th century contributors such as Lilian Snelling, Stella Ross-Craig, Mary Grierson and Margaret Stones, together with the work of present-day artists Christabel King, Ann Farrer and Pandora Sellars.
Marianne North collection
Explore the stunning permanent art collection of Marianne North, which is exhibited in her unique gallery in the Gardens and online.
A view in the Botanic Garden, Brisbane by Marianne North
Marianne North was a remarkable Victorian artist who travelled the globe to satisfy her passion for recording the world’s flora with her paintbrush. Her beautifully restored and refurbished gallery is the only permanent solo exhibition by a female artist in Britain, and is an experience not to be missed.
Introducing the Marianne North Gallery
The Marianne North Gallery in Kew Gardens was re-opened in 2009 after a full architectural refurbishment and restoration. This film features words from curators who worked on this project and footage from the gallery's Community Outreach Celebration Day on October 11th 2009.
Kew's Illustrations Department
Kew's Illustrations Department is housed in the library and has more than 200,000 prints and drawings. The holdings include a high proportion of the early originals prepared for Curtis's Botanical Magazine, together with the work of 18th, 19th and 20th century illustrators. The library also holds an extensive collection of portraits of individuals spanning several centuries to the current day relating to all aspects of botany and horticulture.
For a description of the collections please see: Ward, M. & Flanagan, J. (2003) : Portraying plants - illustrations collections at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (pdf format 102KB) (Art Libraries Journal v.28, n.3, 22-28).
For further information about the illustrations collections please contact:
The Illustrations Curator
Library, Art & Archives
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Surrey TW9 3AE
UK
Tel: +44 (0)20 8332 5415
Fax: +44 (0)20 8332 5430
Email: illus@kew.org
Collection Highlights
Find out more about the works in Kew's collection.
The Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art
The Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art opened at Kew Gardens in April 2008 and is the only continuously open gallery in the world dedicated solely to botanical art. It holds regular exhibitions throughout the year featuring historical and contemporary botanical illustrations.
Library, Art and Archives Blog
Celebrating the launch of JSTOR Global Plants
by: Kat Harrington, Library, Art and Archives blog24 May 2013
Kew's unique Directors' Correspondence collection is being made available digitally through a new collaborative website, JSTOR Global Plants.
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Conserving Darwin's Letters
by: Eleanor Hasler, Library, Art and Archives blog17 May 2013
Discover more about the conservation work carried out on one of the most important, popular and fascinating collection in the Archives.
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