BOTANICALS ILLUSTRATED

BOTANICALS ILLUSTRATED

“The botanical artist finds himself/herself at once and always in a dilemma: is he/she a servant of science or art? There can, I think be no doubt that he/she must learn to serve both masters.”

- The Art of Botanical Illustration, Wilfrid Blunt

Botanicals Illustrated is an amalgamation of diverse interpretations of flora. This exhibition includes visual representations of plants and plant life, such as leaves, flowers, seeds, barks, roots, twigs and fruits. While some portrayals may have been connected to the science of botany (Company School lithographs), others intend to protect and document endangered plant species (Anuradha Sarin Khurana’s works). However, majority of the pieces here have been created purely due to the fascination with and adulation for the plant world and its limitless and beautiful creations.

Some botanical artists in the exhibition have also adopted botanical names or binomials to caption and title their works — these two-part, scientific or Latin names are the standardised nomenclature for plants that are accepted by scientists no matter what languages they speak or where they are in the world.

The showcase includes works by Mahaveer Swami, Anuradha Sarin Khurana, Raju Swami, Manita Singh, Santoshi Shyam, Sahaya Sharma, Ishita Sachdeva and Company School artists (William Roxburgh, James Forbes, John Nugent Fitch, Joseph Paxton and others).

We urge you to read and interpret these captivating and unique plant studies and portraits.

Curator: Sakhshi Mahajan

Assistant Curator: Ashlin Mathew

COMPANY SCHOOL ARTISTS

For Company School artists, painting botanicals were both for its beauty and utility. The illustrations of herbals were used as a means to identify medicinal plants and to document the rich flora and fauna of the subcontinent.

In India, botanical illustrations have largely been associated with the Company School of Art, which came into existence around the late 18th century, though the tradition goes back to the Harappan civilisation.

The Company School is a hybrid Indo-European style of painting made in India by artists mostly employed by the East India Company. In this, traditional elements from Rajput and Mughal paintings were blended with western treatment of perspective and scale.

JAMES FORBES

Having spent almost twenty years in India working for the East India Company, James Forbes kept a journal where he recorded the flora, fauna, landscape, buildings, and people of Bombay. Some of these served as the basis for his book Oriental Memoirs These were considered as travel works and were often in demand as the colonisation of India and the expansion of the British Empire fuelled a curiosity about the subcontinent’s culture and landscape.

WORKS

Blue banana bird at Rio de Janeiro, Blue lizard and Neva tree, The Indian squirrel and tamarind

each: executed in early 19th century each: aquatint

each: 12 x 19 inches/ 13 x 19 inches/ 14 x 19 inches (inside mount)

JOSEPH PAXTON

Joseph Paxton was an English landscape gardener and the architect of the Crystal Palace, an iron and glass structure erected in London's Hyde Park to hold the Great Exhibit of 1851. In addition to being a botanist and a self-taught gardener, he was also a botanical artist of note. He built the Great Conservatory in Chatsworth, which was demolished after its decay during World War I.

WORKS

each: Tropaolum Tricolorum, Moyanthus Barbatus, Calochortus Cuteus, Untitled each: executed in 1828

WILLIAM ROXBURGH (APPOINTED LOCAL ARTISTS LIKE VISHNUPRASAD, GORACHAND ETC.)

Scottish surgeon turned naturalist, William Roxburgh, known as the ‘father of Indian botany’, had hired numerous Indian artists such as Vishnuprasad and Gorachand to paint flowers and plants for him. He created one of the most exhaustive listings of India’s flora. The drawings created for him and his successor, Nathaniel Wallich, were published in London in 1820 after his death under the title Flora Indica

Under Roxburgh, a botanical garden created on the banks of river Hooghly by his predecessor, Colonel Robert Kyd, flourished. He developed an extensive collection of dried plants or the herbarium and this eventually became the Central National Herbarium under the Botanical Survey of India. Still functional, the herbarium has a repository of more than 2 million plant specimens and 12,300 exclusive Wallich specimens. It also houses the original set of Roxburgh's Flora Indica drawings.

WORKS

Linus Brunoniana, Roscoca Capitata, Geranium Grevilleanum, Hoypericum Bracteatum, Clerodendrum Deflexum, Potentilla Arbuscula, Avicennia Tomentosa, Colquhounia Elegan, Pinus Excelsa

each: executed in 1799

each: aquatint

each: 18 x 13 inches/ 20 x 13 inches (inside mount)

each: Rs. 24,000

ANONYMOUS ARTISTS

The East India Company supervisors hired numerous artists to paint flowers and plants and their names may never be known. The exhibit also showcases the works by some of these anonymous makers. One such creator whose name we are unable to confirm made a series titled ‘The Garden’ that will be on display at The Biv. Based on our research we think the artist’s name maybe C Lewis.

WORKS

ANONYMOUS (POSSIBLY C LEWIS)

Hypericum Olympicum, The Garden, Iris Histrioides, Rose Docteur Grill, Billbergia Vittata, Mogadore Narcissus, Clianthus Dampieri Marginatus (Glory Pea), Cyrtanthus Sanguineus each: executed in c 1880s lithograph

JOHN NUGENT FITCH

John Nugent Fitch, a British botanical illustrator and lithographer, was best known for his contribution of 528 plates to The Orchid Album, a landmark work of 11 volumes comprising coloured figures and descriptions of new, rare and beautiful orchidaceous plants. His uncle, Walter Hood Fitch, trained him in a style similar to his own. Nugent Fitch created about 2,500 drawings for botanist William Curtis’s Botanical Magazine from 1878 onwards.

WORKS

Odontoglossum Triumphans Aureum, Laelia Anceps Schroderiana, Laelia Exoniensis, Coelogyne Lactea, Disa Tripetaloides, Thrixspermum Unguiculatum, Laelia Albida Sulphurea, Aerides Expansum Leoniae

each: executed in 1878

each: hand finished lithograph

each: 11.5 x 9 inches (inside mount), Rs. 14,000

ANONYMOUS

Poa Distans; Sea Spurge, Portland, Petty, Dwarf; Baltic Rush, Thread; Agrostis Setacea; Alopecurus Pratensis each: executed in 1880s each: aquatint

ISHITA SACHDEVA

A qualified architect, Ishita Sachdeva showcases the rigid nature of buildings alongside the free-flowing character of plants and flowers in both her digital and watercolour-based works. She combines her mastery of AutoCAD along with her passion for painting and illustrations on Adobe to create her pieces.

An obsessive plant parent, Sachdeva’s set of 12 graphic illustrations reflect her deep interest and knowledge of diverse plant life. She has coupled four architectural elements that include domes, windows, doors and pillars along with overbearing and striking flora to highlight the importance and richness of the sometimes organic and inorganic nature of landscaping.

Despite the contrary nature of the elements in these works, Sachdeva sees similarities between the lines of the intricate jalis, domes and pillars and the linear details of leaves, petals and branches.

Inspired both by botanical artworks as well as architectural drawings, she has used binomials to caption the flora in these works as well as a scale bar as a linear graphic. Employing both traditional and new methods, her conceptual pieces are a unique take on botanicals.

WORKS

fig. i elevation | shikhara; rhododendron luteum

fig. ii elevation | mandapa; strelitzia juncea

fig. iii elevation | stupa; nelumbo nucifera

fig. iv isometric view | jali; maranta leuconeura

fig. v elevation | jali; ginkgo biloba

fig. vi isometric | jali; iris germanica

fig. vii elevation | jharoka; magnolia lilliflora

fig. viii elevation | darwaza; heliconia rostrata

fig. ix north, west elevation | jali; begonia maculate

fig. x west elevation | stambha alphitonia excelsa

fig. xi elevation | stambha; magnolia grandiflora

fig. xii east elevation | stambha; alphitonia excelsa

each: executed in 2023

each: digital illustration on paper, edition of 3

each: 11.69 x 8.27 inches

each: Rs. 10,000

fig. i axonometric |veranda; fig. ii elevation |katghara; fig. iii elevation |minaret each: executed in 2023 each: mixed media on paper each: 16.5 x 11.7 inches each: Rs. 25,000

SAHAYA SHARMA

Colourist Sahaya Sharma’s works have both abstract and surreal tones. Her detailed compositions of pressed flowers and leaves using cyanotype contact printing stand apart due their luminescence and rich blue shades. They make for striking visuals.

Cyanotype is one of the oldest photographic printing processes, which were used by botanists to replicate plant specimens. They are made by placing plants onto light sensitive paper, weighing them down with glass and exposing them using sunlight. They were first introduced by scientist and botanist John Herschel in 1842, but it was the botanist and photographer Anna Atkins who first used the cyanotype to create a photographic album of algae specimens in 1843.

Corals and Florals are a series of 6 works that were inspired by Sharma’s latest dive in Phuket, Thailand. Mesmerised by the species of anemones, starfish and various other schools of fish, she has created this fresh dynamic series. Following the phrase "as above, so below", Sharma takes you through a whimsical journey through her fluidic and multidimensional cyanotype botanicals. Her works employ oil, enamel, acrylic, spray-paint, silver foil and ikat textiles on cyanotypes giving them a rustic yet dramatic painterly effect. Sharma’s works are influenced by pranic healing and meditation and she overlaps the idea of the old and new to form a fresh narrative. She has widely exhibited her works across India, Singapore and Korea and is known for her large dreamy canvases and works on paper.

WORKS

Ferns & Petals I, Ferns & Petals II, Coral and Floral 1, Coral and Floral 2, Bougainvillea caught on reel, Champa Anemone, Ode to Anna Atkins, Champa Anemone with Ikat each: executed in 2023 each: mixed media cyanotype on paper each: 11.69 x 8.27 inches, Rs. 30,000/ 21.5 x 14.5 inches, Rs. 56,000

MAHAVEER SWAMI

Having descended from a family of traditional Bikaner artists, Mahaveer Swami refined the school of painting with an originality and uniqueness among contemporary miniaturists. As a child, he began training with his father and grandfather, and later, studied under the Late Vedpal Sharma "Bannu" who has been the called the “premier exponent of the miniature tradition” by Robert Skelton, a former scholar and curator of Indian art at The Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Swami is a sixth-generation painter in his family.

He is not just a miniaturist, but a renowned painter of botanical subjects. His works in the exhibition are created using natural pigments and pure gold ink on layered handmade paper and silk board. He uses an unusual colour palette which lends an ethereal quality to the paintings.

Swami has exhibited in over fifty private and public institutions in India and internationally (France, Belgium, Israel, United States of America, Japan, Thailand, China, Singapore, Spain and Australia) including Gallery Lafayette in Paris and The Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C.

WORKS

each: Freesia

each: natural pigments on handmade paper

each: 7 x 5 inches

each: Rs. 94,080

*DIGITAL

PRINTS ON ARCHIVAL PAPER BY THE ARTIST ARE AVAILABLE ON REQUEST*

Tulip

13

Rs. 1,00,800

*DIGITAL PRINTS ON ARCHIVAL PAPER BY THE ARTIST ARE AVAILABLE ON REQUEST*

natural pigments & pure gold/tin inks on layered handmade paper

x 6 inches

Chinar Tree

natural pigments & pure gold/tin inks on layered handmade paper

12 x 5.5 inches

Rs. 1,34,400

*DIGITAL PRINTS ON ARCHIVAL PAPER BY THE ARTIST ARE AVAILABLE ON REQUEST*

each: Lotuses

each: natural pigments & pure gold/tin inks on layered handmade paper

each: 4 x 6.5 inches

each: Rs. 1,34,400

*DIGITAL PRINTS ON ARCHIVAL PAPER BY THE ARTIST ARE AVAILABLE ON REQUEST*

Lotuses, Rabbits, Lotuses

each: natural pigments & pure gold ink on pure silk board/ natural pigments & pure gold/silver inks on layered handmade paper

12 x 5 inches, 6.5 x 4 inches, 7 x 9 inches

each: Rs. 1,68,000

*DIGITAL PRINTS ON ARCHIVAL PAPER BY THE ARTIST ARE AVAILABLE ON REQUEST*

*DIGITAL PRINTS ON ARCHIVAL PAPER BY THE ARTIST ARE AVAILABLE ON REQUEST*

Iris

natural pigments & pure gold/tin inks on layered handmade paper

14 x 10 inches

Rs. 2,01,600

*DIGITAL PRINTS ON ARCHIVAL PAPER BY THE ARTIST ARE AVAILABLE ON REQUEST*

Trees (Mango, Ashoka, Banyan)

each: natural pigments & pure gold ink on pure silk board

each: 12 x 9 inches/ 13 x 9.5 inches

each: Rs. 2,35,200

*DIGITAL PRINTS ON ARCHIVAL PAPER BY THE ARTIST ARE AVAILABLE ON REQUEST*

Mughal Botanicals

each: natural pigments & pure gold ink on pure silk board

each: 13 x 9.5 inches

each: Rs. 2,35,200

*DIGITAL PRINTS ON ARCHIVAL PAPER BY THE ARTIST ARE AVAILABLE ON REQUEST*

ANURADHA SARIN KHURANA

A botanical artist and illustrator, Anuradha Sarin Khurana has been studying plants for six years. She was drawn to flora after a visit to Shillong’s sacred forests in 2017. Piqued, Khurana followed it up with an intermediate level botanical drawing course at the Kew Royal Botanical Gardens in London under the tutelage of award-winning botanical artist Lucy T Smith. She is now pursuing an advanced course with another exceptional botanical artist, Dianne Sutherland.

For Khurana, botanical art is an interpretation which is truthful in its representation of any species and is pleasing to the eye. She believes other forms of art can be representative, but botanical art must be scientifically accurate to depict various aspects of a plant. Hence, research is an important part of her practice. In her opinion, the art form enables people to understand how to appreciate, identify and differentiate between species.

Like several contemporary botanical artists, she shares a concern for the environment, particularly in the light of climate change. “When you begin to work with plants, you understand what not to do. This is a process which opens people’s eyes to the importance of conservation and biodiversity,” explains Khurana.

For a few seasons, her focus has been documenting and recording the Indian frankincense trees found in the beleaguered Aravalli Hills, which are the oldest mountain range in the country. Though it has been declared critically endangered, there are a host of issues it faces. More particularly, the tree is being crowded out of its habitat and very few old frankincense trees are visible.

Drawing and painting a 50-year-old frankincense tree is in Khurana’s own words “an experience which involves all senses”. It’s a journey which begins when all the leaves fall at the end of February, the peach fuzzy blossoms emerge and develop into white blossoms in April and eventually the pollination process commences again in May.

A student of artist Rameshwar Broota at Triveni in New Delhi, Khurana specialised in oils and figuratives before she permanently shifted to watercolours and began to focus on botanical art and illustrations.

"Contemporary botanical artists share a concern for the environment, particularly in light of climate change, as well as for drawing attention to plants. Before photography was invented, botanical illustrations were essential to understanding plants. But today, too, drawings can illuminate aspects of plants in a way photos cannot. An illustration can show various parts of a plant at the same time, something a photo really can't. It can show extra details of the fruit, for example, and what it looks like bisected."

- Botanical Illustration: Putting a timely focus on nature, Robin Jess

WORKS

Petrea (3 flowers) mixed media on 270 GSM paper

8.2 x 6 inches, Rs. 6,000

Hydrangea "Florets" (Botanical Studies and Sketches)

mixed media on acid free paper

11.5 x 8.2 inches, Rs. 9,000

“Interconnect": Dandelion, Neem, Golden Shower Amaltas, Gulmohar, Plumeria Champa, Goya Khair each: pen, ink, graphite on grid paper each: 10.2 x 7.2 inches, Rs. 11,000

Hydrangea "Full”, Wild Daisies (Botanical Studies and Sketches) each: mixed media on acid free paper each: 11.5 x 8.2 inches, Rs. 11,000

Plumeria, Roseringed Parakeet graphite on 270 GSM paper, graphite and watercolour on 270 GSM paper each: 12 x 8.9 inches, Rs. 11,000

Rose Desi Gulab, Marigold (Botanical Studies and Sketches) each: mixed media on acid free each: 11 x 8.2 inches, Rs. 15,000

Plumeria (leaf and stem) graphite and watercolour on 270 GSM paper 12 x 8.9 inches, Rs. 15,000

Petrea Branch

watercolour on 300 GSM paper

8.2 x 6 inches, Rs. 18,000

Cottoncaster

Rotring pen and ink stipple on paper

Rs. 25,000

Petrea Queens Wreath, "Dance of the Rose" giclee print on Hahnemuhle German paper each: edition of 3 each: 16.5 x 12 inches, Rs. 25,000

Lizianthus graphite on 300 GSM paper

12.2 x 9 inches, Rs. 28,000

Franckincense Blossoms Spray giclee print on Hahnemuhle German paper edition of 3

8.5 x 12 inches, Rs. 30,000

Croton Leaf, Wax Begonia, Heliconia each: watercolour on 300 GSM arches hot pressed paper/ acrylic on textured paper each: 12.2 x 9 inches/ 15 x 11 inches each: Rs. 32,000

Lizianthus

watercolour on 300 GSM paper

12.2 x 9 inches

Rs. 40,000

Petrea

watercolour on 300 GSM paper

15 x 11 inches

Rs. 45,000

Frankincense Blossoms & Branch

giclee print on Hahnemuhle German paper

edition 1/1

23.5 x 16.6 inches

Rs. 60,000

MANITA SINGH

An applied arts student from the Chandigarh’s Government College of Art is now a fine artist specialising in painting flora. Manita Singh has vast experience in teaching art to students of various levels including children with learning disabilities.

Her creations are purely visual representations of the way she views plants through her naked eye. Singh’s forte as a watercolourist is her command over the medium and the ability to use it to depict the play of light in her works. Her chromatic impressions of flora give a tactile quality to the petals and leaves in her plant portraits.

Singh is also intrigued by the skill behind heritage buildings across India and the world and portrays architecture using the medium of watercolours. As a commissioned artist, her works have been exhibited at the American Embassy and World Health Organisation office in New Delhi, and she has also painted murals in private spaces.

WORKS

each: Untitled each: painted in 2019 each: watercolour on paper each: 20 x 30 inches, Rs. 60,000

Untitled painted in 2019 watercolour on paper

54 x 60 inches

Rs. 1,75,000

each: Untitled each: watercolour on paper each: 15 x 12 inches, Rs. 26,000

RAJU SWAMI

Raju Swami, who has been trained in the Bikaner miniature style under the tutelage of his father, Govardhan Dass Swami, began painting at the age of seven. A specialist in botanical miniatures, some of Swami’s works are characterised by the rangini border, which is the pictorial use of flowers as a framing element.

What differentiates the Bikaner style from the other Rajasthani styles of painting is the use of finer lines and a smaller palette of colours than what was used in the Mughal style. The Bikaner style was developed in the late 17th century as a result of artists who moved away from the Mughal court. Distinctive of the Bikaner school, Swami’s works represent flowers in the shape of a vase.

Preserving the skills and techniques honed over many generations, Swami grinds minerals and stones to create natural pigments, prepares fine brushes from hair plucked from the tail of squirrels, burnishes handmade wasli paper and works with gold leaf.

WORKS

Banyan Leaves, Mahua Leaves each: executed in 2022/2023 each: natural pigments on wasli paper each: 10 x 7 inches

Untitled (Rangini border, Gold vase) each: executed in 2022/2023 each: natural pigments on wasli paper

7 x 10 inches, 10 x 12 inches each: Rs. 12,500

Untitled (Three Banyan trees with black landscape, Lotus flower with black landscape) each: executed in 2022/2023 each: natural pigments on wasli paper each: 14 x 9 inches, Rs. 12,500

Untitled (Mango tree on gold ink) executed in 2022/2023 natural pigments on wasli paper 8 x 11 inches, Rs. 12,500

Untitled (Blue vase with red flowers, Two Kadam trees) each: executed in 2022/2023 each: natural pigments on wasli paper 8 x 11 inches, 10 x 15 inches each: Rs. 20,000

Untitled (Blue lotus on gold leaf, Three Poppy flowers, Three Poppy flowers) each: executed in 2022/2023 each: natural pigments on wasli paper

8 x 11 inches, 21 x 28 inches, 21 x 28 inches each: Rs. 25,000

Untitled (Three Banyan trees, Mango trees, Kadam tree, Banyan trees, Banana trees) each: executed in 2022/2023 each: natural pigments on wasli paper

13 x 9 inches, 21 x 28 inches, 21 x 28 inches, 21 x 28 inches, 21 x 28 inches, 12 x 19 inches each: Rs. 25,000

Untitled (Apple, Pear with flowers) each: executed in 2022/2023 each: natural pigments on wasli paper 15 x 10 inches, 13 x 17 inches each: Rs. 25,000

SANTOSHI SHYAM

Gond artist Santoshi Shyam’s canvases reflect the culture and rituals of the Gond tribe. Her inspiration has been her artist parents Narmada Prasad Tekam and Rambai. Hailing from Patangarh in Madhya Pradesh, her works highlight how the tribe lives in harmony with nature.

Gond art can be easily recognised by the use of lines, dots, vivid bright colours and strong motifs of trees, animals, village life and tribal rituals and deities. Shyam’s whimsical depictions are inspired by the forests of central India.

She is a part of the Gondwana Art Project in New Delhi that is a platform for tribal artists with the mission to nurture and develop their practice. This initiative promotes artists and their art form, which evolves from their dynamic living traditions.

WORKS

Butterflies in Garden painted in 2023 oil on canvas

36 x 48 inches, Rs. 1,68,000

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR HIGH-RESOLUTION IMAGES, PLEASE CONTACT NIAMAT@THEBIV.CO.IN

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