This book is a celebration of the Shirley Sherwood Collection of
contemporary botanical art, considered the most important private
collection of its kind in the world. The Shirley Sherwood Gallery of
botanical Art at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, was the first public
gallery in the world dedicated to botanical art. Sherwood has traveled
the world for more than thirty years, and her passion for plants has
been reflected in the thousands of artworks she has collected around the
globe. This book is a fitting tribute to that passion and to the
incredible artists who share a love for botanical art.
Showcasing the beauty and diversity of the collection, this book
features 265 botanical paintings by 144 artists from 36 countries. The
paintings are arranged in chapters by geographical origin of the
artists, and each artwork is beautifully reproduced. Beyond the British
Isles, the collection boasts impressive and varied paintings from the
United States, Japan, Thailand, Brazil, Australia, Russia, and South
Africa. In addition to showcasing works from around the world, the
collection also spans the many mediums that can be used to create
botanical art, including watercolor, pen and ink, oils, and diamond
point etching on paper, vellum, glass, and canvas.
Sherwood's first acquisition was of an orchid. Three decades later, in
2018, the one thousandth painting was added to the collection, a pocket
handkerchief tree by Coral Guest. To mark this monumental milestone, the
book features a special chapter about this painting that details how it
was initiated and added to the collection.
This book accompanies the exhibition of the same name showing in the
Shirley Sherwood Gallery at Kew from November 2019-March 2020.
