ArtPlantae Today

Left, Passiflora [Passiflora serratodigitata Linnaeus, Passifloraceae], watercolor on paper by John Tyley (Antigua/England?, early 19th century), ca.1802, 42 × 27 cm, HI Art accession no. 0849.36 and right, Passion flower [Passiflora Linnaeus, Passifloraceae], watercolor on paper by Martin J. Allen (England), 2006, 51 × 73 cm, HI Art accession no. 7862, © 2006, Martin J. Allen, All Rights Reserved.

The Hunt Institute of Botanical Documentation invites you to Duets!

As with duets in music, the upcoming exhibition Duets creates new, harmonious couplings of botanical art with items created between the 16th and 21st centuries from the Hunt Institute collections. The subjects of these pairings explore the parallels between works created for numerous botanical applications. They include works painted during expeditions and in native environs; plants of the Americas and introductions now cultivated for the garden; works that showcase the Eastern aesthetic and its modern influence; work of a classical style and more experimental and evocative processes; plants illustrated for agricultural and economic purposes and for their pure aesthetic; and work by historical masters and the contemporary artists they influenced.

The duets include works by the following artists:

• Pierre-Jean-François Turpin (France, 1775–1840) and Irina G. Gai (Russia)
• Pierre-Joseph Redouté (Belgium, 1759–1840) and John Pastoriza-Piñol (Australia)
• Unknown artist (United States, 20th century) in the Hitchcock-Chase Collection of Grass Drawings and Marcel Jomphê (Canada)
• A work attributed to either Barbara Regina Dietzsch (Germany, 1706–1783) or Johann Siegmund Dietzsch (Germany, 1707–1779) and Damodar Lal Gurjar (India)
• Imogen Cunningham (United States, 1883–1976) and Olivia Marie Braida (United States)
• John Tyley (Antigua/England?, early 19th century) and Martin J. Allen (England)
• Jean-Louis Prévost (France, 1760–1810) and Roderick McEwen (Scotland, 1932–1982)
• Georg Dionys Ehret (Germany/England, 1708–1770) and Marilena Pistoia (Italy)
• Priscilla Susan Bury (Mrs. Edward, England, 1793–1869) and Margaret Ursula Mee (England, 1909–1988)
• Joseph Prestele (Germany/United States, 1796–1867) and Elisabeth Dowle (England)
• Lou E. Hurst (Mrs. Albert W. Lamb, United States, 1883–1949) and Regine Hagedorn (France)
• Andrey Avinoff (Russia/United States, 1884–1949) and Albert G. Richards (United States, 1917–2010)
• Gerard van Spaendonck (France, 1746–1822) and Rose Pellicano (Italy/United States)
• Kokei or Kodo Yoshikawa (Japan, 19th century) and Aurora Tazza (Italy)
• Leonardo Parasole (Italy, late 16th–early 17th century) and Elliot Offner (United States, 1931–2010)
• John Curtis (England, 1791–1862) and Anne Marie Trechslin (Italy/Switzerland, 1927–2007)
• James Bolton (England, 1735–1799) and Raphael Henri-Charles Ghislain (Belgium)
• Balthasar Cattrani (Italy, 1770–1810) and James M. Shull (United States, 1872–1948) in the USDA Forest Service Collection
• Augusta Innes Withers (England, ca.1793–1860) and Claus Caspari (Germany, 1911–1980)
• A work attributed to Atanasio Echeverría y Godoy (Mexico, 18th century) in the Torner Collection of Sessé & Mociño Biological Illustrations and Lois Martin Povall (England/South Africa, 1905–1984)
• J. Watts (England, 19th century) and Ruriko Kato (Japan)
• Unknown artist (India, 19th century) and Bernard Pertchik (United States, 1924–1992) and Harriet Pertchik (United States, 1925–1988)
• Unknown artist (France?, 18th century) and Lilian Snelling (England, 1879–1972)
• Pierre-Joseph Redouté (Belgium, 1759–1840) and Timothy C. Angell (United States)

Exhibition Programs

Opening Reception
Thursday, March 20, 2014, 5–7 pm
At 5:30 pm, Curator of Art Lugene B. Bruno will give a short introduction to the exhibition in the gallery.

Open House 2014
In conjunction with Duets, the Hunt Institute will hold its annual Open House on Sunday, June 29, 2014. Stop by for a gallery tour, to meet the curatorial staff and to attend Botanical Exploration in the Americas, a special presentation by Assistant Librarian Jeannette McDevitt, Curator of Art Lugene Bruno and Archivist J. Dustin Williams. Their presentation will focus on three explorers to the Americas who were interested in medicinal and economic plants and ethnography. Related publications, original artwork and archival materials from the Hunt Institute collections will be on view. The schedule of events during Open House is as follows:

1:00 Registration (continues all afternoon)

1:15–1:30 Welcome and Introduction in Reading Room by Publication and Marketing Manager Scarlett Townsend

1:30–2:15 Walking tour of Reading Room furniture by Publication and Marketing Manager Scarlett Townsend

2:15–3:00 Exhibition tour of Duets by Assistant Curator of Art Carrie Roy

3:00–4:00 Botanical exploration in the Americas by Assistant Librarian Jeannette McDevitt, Curator of Art Lugene Bruno and Archivist J. Dustin Williams

The presentation Botanical Exploration in the Americas will include curatorial conversations about three explorers to the Americas who were interested in medicinal and economic plants and ethnography. Displayed will be related publications, original artwork and archival materials from the Hunt Institute collections. McDevitt will feature Spain’s 16th-century court physician Francisco Hernández (1514–1587), the first scientific explorer in the New World (1570–1577), with resulting publications; Bruno will discuss the physician Martín de Sessé y Lacasta (1751–1808) and his work with Jose Mariano Mociño (1757–1820) during the Spanish Royal Expedition to New Spain (1787–1803) that explored the Caribbean, Mexico and northern Central America, showing the resulting illustrations intended for a published flora; and Williams will talk about the botanist and plant collector William Andrew Archer (1894–1973) and his explorations in Mexico and Central and South America for the USDA in the 1930s, with field diaries, reports and photographs.

4:00–4:30 Enjoy exhibition and displays; talk with curators and staff

Cabinet of Curiosities
On display in the Hunt’s Cabinet of curiosities this spring will be the field notebooks of Emma Lucy Braun (1889–1971), author of the influential Deciduous Forests of Eastern North America (1950). The field notebooks are from the Hunt Archives collection.

Exhibition Hours
The Duets 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 am–noon and 1–5 pm; Sunday, 1–4 pm (except 18–20 April, 4 May and 25–26 May). Because the Hunt’s hours of operation are occasionally subject to change, please call or email before your visit to confirm. For further information, contact the Hunt Institute at 412-268-2434.

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. To this end, the Institute acquires and maintains authoritative collections of books, plant images, manuscripts, portraits and data files, and provides publications and other modes of information service. The Institute meets the reference needs of botanists, biologists, historians, conservationists, librarians, bibliographers and the public at large, especially those concerned with any aspect of the North American flora.