I thought this group might enjoy learning about an illustrated botanical books exhibition at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art that features a selection of forty-one books and related items from the research libraries at the Amon Carter and the Botanical Research Institute of Texas. Beginning with the earliest illustrated record of North American plant life in 1635 through the late nineteenth century, the exhibition features some of the great accomplishments of botanical illustration while also demonstrating the evolution of printing and illustration techniques throughout the period. The exhibition is subarranged topically with focus on early European exploration, early hand-colored works, medicinal/herbals, pomology, and trees. The two institutions’ identities as science and art collections encourage a dialogue about how art and science interact in these works. A final case focuses on more aesthetic/sentimental depictions of flowers as a counterpoint to the scientific titles.

Highlights of the exhibition include an early masterwork of chromolithography, The Victoria Regia, an elephant folio with depictions of the development of the exotic plant’s blooms, and a selection of real wood sample cards displayed on a backlit case from Romeyn Hough’s landmark project, The American Woods…, a comprehensive set of about 400 mounted wood specimens. The exhibition also features the first known exhibition of John Bigelow’s marvelous hand-colored lithographed map from volume four of the Pacific Railroad Surveys showing tree varieties growing at a various elevations from Fort Smith to the West Coast. A hi-res digitized version of the map has been made available by Oklahoma State University: http://goo.gl/PP4oa (as of this writing, the resource does not seem to be available).

The exhibition runs through May 29. If you’re in the neighborhood, please stop by! I would be happy to send along a PDF version of the promotional flyer for the exhibition as well as PDF text panels and object labels to anyone interested. I also have a full checklist. Please contact me directly for copies of these files.

You can also follow the blog that I did relating to the installation of the exhibition:

http://www.cartermuseum.org/blog/the-n-files

General info about the exhibition:

http://www.cartermuseum.org/exhibitions/nature-bound-illustrated-botanical-books

Samuel Duncan

Library Director

Amon Carter Museum of American Art

3501 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth, TX 76107

t. 817.989.5042 f. 817.989.5039