As someone studying textiles I was amazed by the work of Anna Atkins. Born in 1799 some say she took the first photograph. Whether that is true or not her botanists eye reveals much about her love of nature.
In her books on British algae and her later work on plants and ferns, Atkins worked by contact-printing cyanotype photograms, and by “photogenic drawing,” the process by which light-sensitive paper is exposed to the sun. (1)
The results are truly modern looking and I itch to try some of the ideas as machine embroidery.
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| Photographs of British Algae by Anna Atkins (1) |
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| Anna Atkins (1) |
Taking the idea of early photography a bit further I have found the work of Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877). He was a pioneering photographer and like Atkins he produced images that look contemporary and offer us new ways to look at the familiar even today.
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| Photogenic Drawing of a leaf - Henry Fox Talbot (2) |
Lucian Freud drew plants in a way that I like. They aren't botanical studies in the accepted sense but they evoke the feeling of tropical climes, the heat, sultriness and exuberance. I get no feeling of being able to wander through these plants.
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| Plants in Jamaica - Lucian Freud (1953) Oil on canvas (3) |
I have looked at the drawings of Antony Gormley (4). He drew whilst he was travelling and took only pigment with him. I like the philosophy that one thing flows into another as the idea develops
Creating one drawing after another, he develops an idea and keeps it going through the momentum of the flow of making in a single intense session of activity.Although plants are not really the focus of these drawings I particularly like these images because they remind me of plants. They are from the Bermuda drawings 1998
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| The Bermuda drawings - Anthony Gormley (1998) |
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| The Bermuda drawings - Anthony Gormley (1998) |
(1)
It seems as though plants can be depicted in a infinite number of ways. They can rely on reality (as in botanical drawings) or become abstract and excite the viewers imagination. I like the power of suggestion in the abstract.
(1) http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/03/16/impressions/
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