Botanical Artist Bryan Poole World-Renowned

“[New Zealander] Bryan Poole, who has died aged 69, was one of the most talented botanical artists working in Britain; he helped to raise the status of a branch of art which has too often, in the past, been dismissed as the province of genteel amateurs,” The Telegraph writes in an obituary of the Invercargill-born artist.

“He revived the highly complex, painstaking and physically demanding 17th-century ‘intaglio’ or ‘in the cut’ technique for making copperplate aquatint etchings, which had been used by Pierre-Joseph Redouté but had fallen out of fashion. The resulting ‘original prints’ are aesthetically pleasing, contemporary in feeling and botanically accurate. They are represented in important public art collections across the world,” The Telegraph writes.

“The prints he created were not simply technical achievements, but scientifically accurate works of art. Some of his most accomplished works have been chosen by Shirley Sherwood, the great patron of botanical art, to hang in the gallery named after her in Kew Gardens.

“Examples of his work may be found in the Natural History Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation and the Museum of New Zealand. He became an Associate Member of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers in 2002 and was made up to a Fellow in 2006. He received a Gold Medal from the Royal Horticultural Society in 2007.”

Original article by The Telegraph, February 2, 2023.

Photo by Diana Wheeler.