On the first Sunday of my recent trip to England I was staying with my nephew and his family in London. They live within walking distance of Kew Gardens and my great-niece was lucky enough to have a work-experience spell there recently. During that time she was particularly interested in a brick building which houses the paintings of Marianne North and she was keen to show it to her father.
As it happened the men of the house were glued to the quarter or semi-finals of crucial Rugby games happening in Japan so elected to gallery hop another day. So Molly and Mel took their visiting aunt via a shortcut through Mortlake cemetery to join lots of other Londoners in famous Kew Gardens on a half-decent Autumn day. Alan and I were happy to have found them last year but hadn’t gone into the Marianne North gallery. Molly is fascinated with the idea of Marianne’s adventures as an artist, working in the 19th Century, in the days before much photography.
Briefly (and I have included the link to the Wikipedia biography of her) Marianne was the eldest of three children of wealthy parents. She spent much time with her father after her mother’s death and he encouraged and paid for her artistic endeavours. During the course of her career Marianne managed to travel to exotic parts of the world.. India, New Zealand, tropical islands, in search of marvellous, colourful flowers and scenery to paint.
She arranged the design and building of her gallery specifically to house all her paintings and donated it and the artwork to Kew Gardens. We are told that this is the only permanent gallery devoted solely to the work of a female artist in England. Marianne personally arranged the paintings according to their country and insisted that they not be rearranged ever. Studying her beautiful paintings makes for a happy afternoon, and an appreciation of her determination to record wondrous flora and fauna for visitors to the gardens back in England.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marianne_North#cite_note-12
This is a link to a BBC 2016 documentary on Marianne North, hosted by actress Emilia Fox. It’s about an hour long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzmfycePQpQ
Of course there are many other wonders to see, including the vast Victorian glass houses. The tropical pavilion has been lovingly restored and the banana and other humidity-loving plants are happily growing apace. The temperate building will need similar restoration ere long. Dale Chilhuly’s glass work is currently installed around the Gardens, some outside and some in. Some are gorgeous but we generally agreed that the placing of gaudy glass pieces amongst fabulous plants sn’t always the best idea. I’ve taken photos of some pieces and you decide what you think.
When you have a chance to visit Kew Gardens amuse yourself with a wander into the Marianne North Art Gallery. You will be amazed at how many countries and environments she was able to visit and paint.
Molly is excited to have secured a Christmas season job at the Gardens as she saves up for her own ‘Gap Year’ expedition to Nepal in 2020.
