ArtPlantae Today

Rumex obtusifolius leaf [Rumex obtusifolius Linnaeus, Polygonaceae], watercolor on paper by Julia Trickey, 2006, 55 × 36.5 cm, HI Art accession no. 7755, © 2006 Julia Trickey, All Rights Reserved.

What We Collect:
Recent Art Acquisitions, 2007-2012
Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA
March 22 – June 30, 2013

A selection of recent acquisitions to the Art Department of the Hunt Institute, from the early 19th century through the present, will be placed in the context of the Institute’s collection practices and the history of botanical illustration. Whether working alongside botanists for scientific and horticultural publications or preparing artworks for collectors, galleries or commercial use, artists throughout the centuries have added their individual perspectives to portraying plants and have made lasting contributions to the botanical record and the history of art.

Included will be original illustrations for an early-19th-century botanical handbook and its contemporary, the field guide; a 19th-century classroom wall chart and the modern text book; a 20th-century seed packet and a booklet on seedling identification; a 20th-century monograph on the mistletoe genus and a journal article on marine fungi; drawings and watercolors illustrated by research botany professors; independent projects on floras of a region, native and medicinal plants and plants and their pollinators; and recent botanical artworks by artists previously represented in Hunt Institute’s International Exhibition of Art & Illustration. Mediums represented are watercolor on paper and vellum; ink, graphite and charcoal drawing; printmaking techniques: copper etching, wood engraving, vitreography and nature printing; and gelatin silver photography.

The artists working before 1900 include Pancrace Bessa (1772–1846), Sydenham Edwards (1769?–1819), Will Kilburn (1745–1818), James Sowerby (1757–1822), William Jackson Hooker (1785–1865), W. A. Meyn (19th-century), Powe (18th-century) and Christian Schkuhr (1741–1811). The contemporary artists featured include Bobbie Angell, Wendy Brockman, John Cody, Felicity Rose Cole, Carolyn Crawford, Paul Dobe (1880–1965), John Doughty, Beverly Duncan, Josephine Elwes Ewes, Alison Gianangeli, Janice Glimn-Lacy, Audrey Hardcastle, Lizzie Harper, Christina Hart-Davies, Lyn Hayden, Richard Homala (1934–2009), Brigette Kohlmeyer, Job Kuijt, Donelda LaBrake, Peter Loewer, Rogers McVaugh (1912–2009), Susan G. Monden, Cindy Nelson-Nold (1957–2009), Susan Ogilvy, Kandis Phillips, Alfred Putz (1892–1966), Mary Rankin, Thomas Reaume, Eugeni Sierra-Ràfols (1919–1999), Eva Stockhaus, Jessica Tcherepnine, Julia Trickey, Denise Walser Kolar, John Wilkinson and Sun Yingbao.

The Hunt’s annual Open House will be held in conjunction with this exhibition. Curators, librarians and staff will lead exhibition tours and discuss the history of botanical wall charts and botanical publications during this event. View the library’s Open House schedule.

Visitor Information
The exhibition will be on display on the 5th floor of the Hunt Library building at Carnegie Mellon University and will be open to the public free of charge.

Hours: Monday–Friday, 9 a.m.–Noon and 1–5 p.m.; Sunday, 1–4 p.m. (except March 29-31, May 5 and May 26-27). Hours subject to change, please call or email before your visit to confirm the library will be open.

About the Hunt Institute
The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, a research division of Carnegie Mellon University, specializes in the history of botany and all aspects of plant science and serves the international scientific community through research and documentation.