As part of a series of blogs exploring the presence and absence of women in art, here, Annie Robertson explores the role women artists have played in the fields of science and botany.
The role of women within the history of both art and science has been difficult to trace from the 16th to as late as the early 20th century.
In terms of illustrating botanical and herbal books, which combine both disciplines, the female contribution has been even less unsung.
Over the past few decades, there has been increased interest in reinstating these forgotten women. They were not only the illustrators of these books – they were also the writers, publishers and often the target audience.
The History of Art, Botany and Women
The subject of botany and the study of herbs often centred around women, as they were the healers, midwives and cooks of earlier societies. As botany became a more serious discipline and was formally documented, women were excluded from this professional field. Their knowledge was taken and built upon, but they were written out of their own history.
Despite this, men actively employed or sought out help from women and girls, often their wives and daughters, as “Fair Associates”, to fill their books with scientifically accurate illustrations.
Most of the time, these women were never officially credited. Crediting women illustrators was not common practice until the 19th century, when they began publishing their own botanical, herbal, or gardening themed books using their own names and not pseudonyms, as was previously common practice.
These women were sought out for their artistic skills, which they had gained from an early age. Painting and drawing were seen as suitable pastimes for a woman of ‘polite’ society during the 18th and 19th centuries and they would often outperform their male counterparts in these artistic areas.
Alongside this, women were also taught the ‘acceptable’ science of botany within the home. This was often taught by their mothers or female teachers as they were the most knowledgeable. So, not only did they have the artistic skill, but they also had the scientific knowledge that enabled them to render flora, as well as insects, to a high level of naturalism and accuracy.
Female Illustrators of the Enlightenment
Ann Lee was an 18th century illustrator and the daughter of author and plant nurseryman James Lee. She therefore learned from an early age the science and skill behind the painting of flora.
Lee was commissioned to illustrate many of the insects from the collection of her father’s friend and fellow naturalist, John Fothergill. Ann’s drawings and paintings can be found in a number of collections internationally.
As all of Fothergill’s insect specimens were bequeathed to William Hunter, many of the models for Ann’s commissions are likely to be found in The Hunterian’s 18th century holdings.
Despite her reputation, at this time Lee was in the minority as a recognised woman artist.
Women in general were still discouraged from engaging with science, botany and pursuing a career outside the home. Despite there being outliers, women only tended to publish when they had been widowed or needed an income.
Berthe Hoola van Nooten, a Dutch widower, published published Fleurs, Fruits et Feuillages Choisis de la Flore et de la Pomone de L’Ile de Java peints d’après nature in 1863. Despite it being a beautiful book on the botany of Java, her book opens with an apology for her gender and audacity to use her talent in such a way.
In the late 19th century it was eventually seen as more socially acceptable for women to publish botanicals, but only if they were written with a female audience in mind. Women began to publish botanical, gardening and instructive art books for other women.
Written in plain English, with illustrations of scientific accuracy, these books were incredibly popular. Here, women were able to receive credit for a practice that had been going on for centuries.
Katherine Cameron: Botany and The Glasgow Girls
The use of flowers was extremely popular in Victorian society, influenced by these botanic and gardening books. They were used in fashion, textiles, architecture and more.
Their popularity continued into the 20th century and into the Art Nouveau era. This saw the rise in use of the iconic ‘Glasgow rose‘ motif – as well as plant imagery often taken from botanical books and herbals which were, again, regularly illustrated by women.
The most famous artist groups to come from the British Art Nouveau era was the Glasgow Boys and the Glasgow Girls. The Hunterian collection has an extensive array of works from these two iconic Scottish groups.
A member of the Glasgow Girls, Katherine Cameron was born in Scotland in 1874 and studied at the Glasgow School of Art before gaining a reputation as one of the best flower illustrators, engravers and painters of her era; she was often commissioned to illustrate poetry books and novels.
The style of the flowers she illustrates can arguably be traced back to this female-dominated era of botanical illustration.
Cameron combines the decorative style of the Art Nouveau movement with the naturalism of older botanical books and herbals.
We can see, especially in her etchings, the scientifically accurate flora surrounded by insects, which are finished to the same standard. This creates not only the Celtic, fairy-tale effect the Glasgow Girls were known for, but we can see this as an unofficial tribute to the female practice of botanical illustration.
Despite still being seen as anomalous as female artists, the Glasgow Girls were icons of both their time and the present day. The start of the 20th century ended the era of forgotten female illustrators.
Botany and Art in the 21st Century
Christine Borland, a Scottish-born artist, has been a notable figure in the current century for recognising the forgotten role of women within botanicals.
In her 2002 exhibition, The History of Plants According to Women, Children and Students, Borland brings these issues to light with her set of 10 watercolour-finished prints taken from De Historia Stirpium 1542. This was a vital book in the history of the overlap of science and art, as it was one of the first botanical books to be treated as ‘scientific’.
Despite being written by a man, Leonhard Fuchs, a multitude of women and children were employed to paint the illustrations. Their names were never recorded – as was the norm at this time. To counteract and reject this history, Borland only paid and named those who coloured the prints in her exhibition – which were 10 different women.
The Hunterian holds several of these prints, which also sit within the collection alongside Cameron’s illustrations.
Importance of Inclusion
The Hunterian Art Gallery aims to tell stories that have not been told before. The recent rehang of the gallery display showcases more works by artists whose contributions have previously been underrepresented in art gallery displays in the past.
Within the art historical canon and beyond, certain groups have been marginalised or excluded depending on their gender, race, sexuality and more. It’s incredibly important that we continue to research, acknowledge and credit those whose works have been forgotten.
Explore more stories of women behind, or represented in, artwork – and their achievements and contributions to the art world – elsewhere on The Hunterian’s blog.
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