RETURN TO OLDER WORKS
the history of plants according to women, children and students, 2002
Details
Ten hand-coloured etchings of plants depicted in Leonhart Fuchs' 'De Historia Stirpium' (History of Plants), published in 1542.
Pastinaca Sativa (Wild Parsnip) - coloured by Hannah Robinson
Juniperus Sabina (Savin Juniper) - coloured by Christine Borland
Asplenium adiantum-nigrum (Black Spleenwort) - coloured by Anna Ferguson
Peucedanum officinale (Hog’s Fennel) - coloured by Rebecca Conway
Delphinium consolida (Forking Larkspur) - coloured by Denise The
Filipendula vulgaris (Dropwort) - coloured by Amy Wilson
Aristolochia clematis (Birthwort) - coloured by Stephenie Byron
Mentha pulegium (Pennyroyal) - coloured by Sadie Tierny
Calendula officinalis (Marigold) - coloured by Seena Amin
Satureja montana (Winter Savory) - coloured by Michelle Daniels
Height 61 cm, Width 47 cm.
Photography: Ib Sørensen
DESCRIPTION
Edition of 200 Prints, printed and published by Glasgow Print Studio, Glasgow, Scotland, first exhibited in Significant Notes, Aarhus Kunstforening af 1847, Aarhus, Netherlands Oct – Nov 2002
A further digital version of 100 prints, which were produced by Glasgow Print Studio for the exhibition Preserves at the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, 2006 were then hand-coloured by botanical illustrators at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh.
For this suite of prints Borland selected 10 plates from one of the earliest and most important woodcut herbals, Leonhart Fuchs' 'De Historia Stirpium' (History of Plants), published in 1542, and reworked them as etchings. Fuchs' herbal is one of the earliest books on plants which can properly be called scientific, and it was immensely influential in medicine and botany in succeeding decades. His introduction credits the artist and engravers involved in the production of the images, but those who coloured the plates were unidentified women and children. Hand-colouring was skilled work which required careful copying from master copies or from the original watercolours. Crude, uneven or inaccurate colouring could obscure the finely-printed outlines, or misrepresent the species or variety, and thus undermine the usefulness of the image for purposes of identification. It was common practice for print publishers to employ women for this work, but there contributions were never credited. This continued into the later 19th century when many of the serial horticultural publications were still being hand-coloured in this way. Borland's publication of these prints reversed the usual hierarchy of credits and recognition - though a number of people were involved in the etching and colouring of the plates, only those undertaking the colouring were credited. Borland was inspired to produce these prints as a consequence of her Fellowship at Glasgow University in 1998-99 and her public art commission for the University - To be Set and Sown in the Garden (2002) a series of benches set out like beds in a medieval garden.
Extract from V&A Collections