AMERICAN GREY | l i g h t
Marianne North, 1830-1890
Posted by AG (London, United Kingdom) on 17 August 2006 in Art & Design.
In 1871, Marianne North set off on the first of her painting expeditions that took her to the far corners of the world over the next sixteen years. Travel was by sail, steam, early railroad, tram, horse and cart and mule but she took her easel to North and South America, Africa, India, Japan, Australia, New Zealand . . . and completed over 800 oil paintings of the plants of the world.
Photography was still experimental and b&w at this time, so Marianne North’s paintings were then the only collective color record of reference to worldwide plants and landscapes of their kind.
The painting I have singled out is from her Australia expedition 1880-1881 and I do believe it shows trees similar to those digitally photographed by Heath and transmitted to us all in microseconds. Marianne’s journey on which she painted the scene took more than a year.
If you get to Kew Gardens in London, do visit her gallery.
AFTERTHOUGHTS
Thanks for the Comments, Everyone.
Many of the visitors to Kew Gardens are unaware of this gallery let alone familiar with the work of Ms North. If ever you get to Kew, do try to visit the Marianne North Galley.
The 800-plus paintings in the Gallery are not above artistic criticism but are strong on botanic detail. She also brought back specimens of many plants and even samples of wood from the trees which are now displayed along with the paintings.
But, the main impact she has on me is that, in those Victorian times, this single woman actually traveled across the world and brought back and shared her own personal record of what she found in all those distant places. That really was some feat when you consider the personal risk and effort it involved back in the late-1800’s.
I have a copy of her autobiography which she entitled “Recollections of a Happy Life”. Can’t ask for more than that.
Marianne North and the Marianne North Gallery
- AG, 08-19-2008
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Camera: NIKON D70
Focal Length: 12 mm
Exposure Time: 1/160 sec
Aperture: f 5
ISO: 200
Flash: Not Fired
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This site stands in the long shadow of American Grey | frames, my (closed) original photoblog 2005-2009.
Many of my earlier postings are reproduced here together with image summaries of Comments made at the time.
