Exploratrices Intrépides:
Marianne North, Margaret Mee
(paintings from the collections of the Royal Botanic
Gardens, Kew)
from May 11 to July 28, 2007
Mona Bismarck Foundation
34 avenue de New York, 75116 Paris
This exhibition bridges the worlds of art, botany and
conservation through paintings by Marianne North (1830-1890) and
Margaret Mee (1909-1988) from the collections of the Royal Botanic
Gardens, Kew. Although North and Mee painted in different
centuries, these two gifted artists, dedicated naturalists and
intrepid explorers shared a love of adventure and nature which
carried them far from their native England.
MARIANNE NORTH (1830-1890) Marianne North was a remarkable Victorian artist
who explored the world at a time when it was very unusual for
women to travel alone. She had little formal training until, in
1867, the Australian artist Robert Dowling taught her how to use
oils, a medium she favored the rest of her life. Her aim
was to portray plants in their natural habitat, but she also painted
landscapes, animals, birds and insects. Between 1871 and 1881,
she explored the United States, Canada, Jamaica, Tenerife, Japan,
Singapore, Sarawak, Java, Sri Lanka, India, Australia and New
Zealand.
In 1879, Marianne North conceived the idea of presenting
her paintings to Kew in a gallery built at her own expense.
The Marianne North Gallery designed by James Fergusson, the architectural
historian, today houses an amazing 832 paintings and is considered
one of the greatest treasures of Kew. Marianne North herself supervised
the selection and hanging, stipulating that the works should never
travel nor be rearranged. There are, however, over 100
further paintings in the collections at Kew which have never been
shown to the public and it is a selection of these which
will be shown at the Mona Bismarck Foundation.
MARGARET MEE (1909-1988) Margaret Mee is considered the premier female explorer
of the Amazonian rain forest, but Amazonia was a world
away from the life that Mee knew growing up in the English countryside.
As an adult, she attended the prestigious Camberwell School of
Art. In 1952, she moved to Brazil with her husband, Greville Mee.
This exhibition features some 50 spectacular watercolor
drawings by Margaret Mee, as well as field sketches and diaries
from her Amazonian expeditions. Mee’s exquisite
paintings of orchids, bromeliads, and other Amazonian plants have
been widely praised for both their scientific clarity and their
striking artistic beauty. A passionate conservationist, Mee was one of the first
to raise a voice against the destruction and exploitation of the
Amazon. During the 1970s and 1980s, with courage and
disregard for personal safety, Mee challenged indiscriminate deforestation
and became one of Amazonia’s foremost defenders. Mee realized
that her paintings would eventually become important as a record
of a natural world that was destined for irrevocable change.
Exhibition Curator, Royal Botanic Gardens,
Kew: Ruth L. A. Stiff
Programs Director, Mona Bismarck Foundation: Kristina Didouan
Mona Bismarck Foundation
34 avenue de New York, 75116 Paris
Email: info@monabismarck.org
www.monabismarck.org
Days and opening hours:
Tuesday to Saturday from 10:30 a.m. – 18:30 p.m.
– Closed on holidays
Telephone: 01 47 23 38 88
Admission: Free
Metro: Alma-Marceau, Iena, Trocadéro
Bus: 72 – 63 – 94
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