FROM HALESWORTH TO THE HIMALAYAS: A LEGACY OF BEAU Visual Arts

Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker Bicentenary Botanical Art Exhibition

In 1865, Hooker was appointed Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, succeeding his father, and President of the Royal Society in 1873.
Founder and Principal of the Chelsea School of Botanical Art, Helen Allen said: "We are delighted that the Halesworth Gallery has invited us to exhibit botanical paintings of plants relating to, and named after, Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker. We are also including other plant illustrations showing this traditional art. This is a great opportunity for our School and its alumni, many of whom now earn their living through their painting. We plan to show visitors the tools and the progression of creating a botanical painting, which traditionally combines art and science, through the work of present and past talented Chelsea School of Botanical Art students."
"The list of plants named after Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker is extensive. Many of the species are no longer the same as they were when discovered by Hooker, some are very rare and protected. Therefore, in some cases, our artists have selected the current version to paint. We will also be showing other botanical paintings and illustrations by our alumni."
Chelsea School of Botanical Art alumni and students from the UK, USA, Singapore and Japan are in the process of producing botanical illustrations and paintings of plants discovered by and named after Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, as soon as the relevant plants bloom, ready for the exhibition at Halesworth Gallery in the town of his birth, at the beginning of July 2017. Botanical paintings of plants such as Sarcococca hookeriana, Iris hookeri, Himalayacalamus hookerianus and Lithops hookeri by Chelsea School of Botanical Art alumni, as well as other plant illustrations and paintings will be for sale, priced from £250.
Hooker, a great friend of Charles Darwin, travelled widely recording and bringing back plants, as well as documenting landscapes and buildings around the world including India, Africa, USA, Falkland Islands, Antarctica, Palestine, Morocco and Galapagos. Hooker was approached to work on Darwin’s collection of plants from the studies on the Beagle. In one letter to Hooker, Darwin wrote, "I must not look at any more exotic orchids; hearty thanks for your offer. But if you would make one single observation for me on Cypripedium, I should be glad."
In Hooker's and Darwin's footsteps, work by one Chelsea School of Botanical Art graduate includes a sketchbook from Galapagos featuring the islands' plant life and birds. Hooker sketched and coloured his drawings, produced on his travels, and sent them back to Kew to be painted by Walter Hood Fitch, whom Hooker had trained in botanical drawing. His discoveries have influenced the plants we have in our gardens today.

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