Join Sir Peter Crane for a lively discussion about Rory McEwen’s distinctive contemporary style and how it drew upon long traditions of plant illustration to create new works that influenced the trajectory of botanical art on both sides of the Atlantic. He will situate McEwen among the great botanical artists of all time using works from the Oak Spring Garden Foundation in Virginia and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Sir Peter is President of Oak Spring Garden Foundation, an estate of Rachel Lambert Mellon that includes an exquisite garden as well as an exceptional library focused on plants, gardens, and landscape design. He is known internationally for his work on the diversity of plant life – its origin, fossil history, conservation, and use.
Rory McEwen: A New Perspective on Nature presents the vibrant career of renowned Scottish artist Rory McEwen (1932–1982), a seminal figure in the development of contemporary botanical art. McEwen had a distinctive style; he emphasized light and color in his paintings of natural objects, portraying individual flowers, leaves, and vegetables against empty backgrounds on which they appear to float. Executed in his preferred medium of watercolor on vellum, these ‘plant portraits’ record in minute detail the imperfect and unique features of his subjects.