Margaret Mee - Resources for Botanical Art Lovers

Margaret Mee's Amazon: The Diaries of an Artist Explorer

by: Margaret Mee

Antique Collectors Club Dist A/C; illustrated edition (October 16, 2004)

For thirty-two years, the artist Margaret Mee was enchanted by and lured back again and again to the massive, unpredictable and fertile rainforests of Amazonas. Her initial objective, to search out and illustrate the glorious flora growing in the tree canopies and along the innumerable waterways of the great rivers of the Amazon basin, was later combined with a growing concern at the commercial plunder of the great forests. Her first expedition to Amazonas was in 1956 and it was then that she began to keep the diaries that, along with her paintings, drawings and sketches, make up this book. Although plant hunting always came first whenever possible and practical, other events often took over. A small dug-out canoe could become a waterlogged, if not dangerous, place to be; rapids had to be got through; recalcitrant boatmen were gently or sternly coerced; drunken prospectors were held off with a revolver. She was fascinated by the rich mix of Brazilians she came across and often lived with for a time; she was especially fond of the riverines she met, and over the years became friends with many of them. Between expeditions, some of which lasted for up to four months, Margaret returned home to Sao Paulo, to teaching commitments, and to her own painting. Unpredictable weather, transport and guides meant she often had to make hurried in situ sketches (always meticulously annotated) which she later worked up into coloured sketches and finished paintings.

In the autumn of 1988, just after what was sadly to be her last expedition, Margaret came to England to lecture to the Royal Geographic Society and attend the opening of an exhibition of her paintings, Margaret Mee's Amazon, at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It is ironic that this enthusiastic lover of the Amazon, who had braved so many hazardous and alarming situations, was killed in a car crash in England. She was seventy-nine, keen to return to the Amazon, and still producing fine work.

Amazon Price: $40.15 (as of 12/25/2009)

Margaret Mee: Return to the Amazon

by: Margaret Mee, Ruth Stiff

This collection of Magaret Mee paintings, purchased by the Magaret Mee Amazon Trust, was presented to Kew. Margaret Mee, shortly before her death helped to establish the Margaret Mee Amazon Trust which undertook the task of purchasing the large number of Margaret's paintings, field sketchbooks and notebooks which reside at Kew.

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Flowers of the Amazon Forest: The Botanical Art of Margaret Mee

by: Margaret Ursula Brown

Margaret Mee must rank as one of the most remarkable women of the twentieth century. She was an intrepid explorer of the Brazilian rainforest and an outstanding botanical artist, acclaimed by botanists and art critics worldwide. At the age of 47, Mee started exploring the Amazon in the footsteps of great British explorers such as Richard Spruce and Henry Walter Bates travelling throughout the wildest parts of Amazonia for the next thirty years. Mee learned to live with the forest and its plants, animals and people and learnt much from the Indians about the trees and plants she so meticulously painted. Mee initially sketched the plants in the forest and then worked on the large illustrations of the entire plant in her studio in Rio de Janeiro. Nine of these plants recorded by Mee, previously unknown to science, are now named after her. "Flowers of the Amazon Forests: The Botanical Art of Margaret Mee" illustrates more than sixty of Mee's major works with additional sketches painted whilst in the forest. The text is taken directly from the diaries she kept whilst travelling giving a wonderful insight into the Amazon - something very few people have actually seen. Mee was an ardent conservationist and was well known for her outspoken views on the destructive exploitation of the Amazon forests. This book is a small tribute to her great work.

Amazon Price: $28.73 (as of 12/25/2009)
List Price: $39.50

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Margaret Mee - Marianne North: Exploratrices Intrepides

by: Ruth L.A. Stiff, Laura Ponsonby

Produced to accompany the exhibition of the same name, this title illustrates the work of Margaret Mee and Marianne North, two of England's greatest artistic explorers. 42 full page colour reproductions of Margaret Mee's outstanding art are accompanied by her sketches and descriptions, and an introduction to the artist by Ruth Stiff, Brinsley Burbridge and Shirley Shirwood. An introduction to Marianne North by Laura Ponsonby is accompanied with the reproduction of 52 full colour paintings by the Victorian artist depicting the beauty of the natural world she encountered, with short descriptions.

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The Flowering Amazon Margaret Mee Paintings from the Royal Botanic Gardens,Kew

by: Ruth L.A. Stiff

This new book features outstanding botanical paintings by Margaret Mee, the talented and pioneering female explorer, conservationist and painter of plants of the Amazon rainforest. It was published to accompany an exhibition touring the U.S. Mee's inspirational botanical watercolours are accompanied by fascinating insights into her courageous expeditions.

The introductory biographical and critical notes are by Dr Simon Mayo of Kew, Dr Burbridge of the St. Croix Botanical Garden, and Dr Shirley Sherwood.

The book includes 26 exquisite full-page repoductions of Mee's paintings.

Release Date: 05/01/2004

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