Hunt Institute Publication: Botanicals: Environmental Expressions in Art

Publications

Botanicals: Environmental Expressions in Art,
the Alisa and Isaac M. Sutton Collection

Botanicals: Environmental Expressions in Art, the Alisa and Isaac M. Sutton Collection

By James J. White and Lugene B. Bruno with essays by Isaac M. Sutton, Susan Frei Nathan and Alice Marcus Krieg. 2009. Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation and The Isaac C. M. Sutton 1999 Investment Trust. 133 pp.; 54 color figs.; 8 x 10"; 2 lbs. Pictorial stiff paper cover, $35.00 plus shipping and handling. ISBN 978-0-913196-83-0. (Please note that this is the correct ISBN for this catalogue.)

[Hunt Institute Associates will receive a 10% discount on the purchase of one to four copies of the Botanicals catalogue and a 20% discount on five or more copies. Book dealers will receive a 20% discount. The 25% Associate and 40% quantity discounts do not apply to this publication.]

This fully illustrated catalogue accompanies the Hunt Institute exhibition that has been extended through 30 June 2010. Botanicals: Environmental Expressions in Art, the Alisa and Isaac M. Sutton Collection represents one of the finest private collections of contemporary botanical art in America. These 54 artworks are expressions of the purely aesthetic forms found in nature and a reminder that we are stewards of our natural resources for future generations.

Isaac Sutton’s love of nature and concern for the environment led him to a crossroads in his collection. Since the 1980s he had been acquiring landscape paintings that were reminiscent of his childhood summers spent in the mountains of Lebanon and his early adult years in Israel. In 1997 he was introduced to botanical art through The Shirley Sherwood Collection of Contemporary Botanical Art exhibition at the National Arts Club in New York. He was struck by the artistic virtuosity of the paintings and felt an immediate connection to the plant subjects portrayed. Soon after he began to develop his own collection in this genre while discovering the work of artists in the triennial International Exhibition of Botanical Art & Illustration at the Hunt Institute, in the annual exhibits of the American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA) at the Horticultural Society of New York, and in galleries and botanical gardens in the United States and abroad.

Isaac Sutton collects botanical art for its aesthetic impact. He appreciates an artist’s ability to capture not only the beauty of a plant specimen but also its distinct form and function with scientific accuracy while filtering it through his or her own sensibility. Over time he has become interested in how the subjects of the paintings represent an important part of our ecosystem. The title of the exhibit, Botanicals: Environmental Expressions in Art, echoes the role that the botanical artist plays in documenting rare and endangered plants and common plants that play an important role in our planet’s biodiversity. Also of importance is the role that the collector and the museum play in supporting and validating the vision of these botanical artists by sharing it with the public through exhibitions. Sutton feels that botanical art should be recognized as a melding of art and science that both inspires and educates.

The exhibition and catalogue include 54 artworks by 40 artists from Australia, Belgium, Cuba, England, France, Germany, India, Japan, Russia, Scotland, South Africa and the United States. The artists are Beverly Allen, Timothy Angell, Anita Barley, Leslie Berge, Susannah Blaxill, Svetlana Boucher, Beverly Duncan, Jean Emmons, Damodar Lal Gurjar, Regine Hagedorn, Celia Hegedüs, Kyoto Katayama, Martha Kemp, Karen Kluglein, Katie Lee, Angela Lober, David Mackay, Fiona McGlynn, Elaine Musgrave, Kate Nessler, Patricia Newman, Susan Ogilvy, Hillary Landemare Parker, John Pastoriza-Piñol, Rachel Pedder-Smith, Rodella Purves, Kelly Leahy Radding, Celia Rosser, Adèle Rossetti Morosoni, James Sain, Lizzie Sanders, Muriel Sandler, Hiroe Sasaki, Alan Singer, Peta Stockton, Jessica Tcherepnine, Vicki Thomas, Bronwyn Van de Graaff, Catherine Watters and Carol Woodin.

Beginning with a preface by Hunt Institute Curator of Art James J. White, the catalogue also includes the following essays: “A passion for nature and collecting” by Isaac M. Sutton; “Overview of a collection” by Susan Frei Nathan of Susan Frei Nathan Fine Works on Paper; and “Integrating the garden and art collections” by Alice Marcus Krieg of Groundworks Inc. Hunt Institute Acting Curator of Art Lugene B. Bruno designed the catalogue. Hunt Institute Graphics Manager Frank A. Reynolds did the reproduction photography with the Nikon D1X and the Sony A900 digital cameras. The catalogue was printed with soy ink on mixed sources paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

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