Inside Out: Contemporary Botanical Natural History Artworks

As noted in our previous post we have a special pop-up exhibition currently on view. 

Inside Out: Contemporary Botanical Natural History Artworks continues the foster a 200 year old practice of creating Natural History works, celebrating the beauty and of nature.

Outside In: Contemporary Natural History Artworks
September 9 – October 12, 2016
Reception: Friday, September 9, 5pm – 8pm
Arader Galleries San Francisco
432 Jackson Street

San Francisco, CA 94111 858.231.9067

Jean Emmons

Arader Galleries is pleased to announce an exhibition of contemporary natural history artworks

opening in their San Francisco, CA gallery the evening of September 9, and remaining on view

through October 12. 2016. The contemporary artworks in the exhibition will be supplemented by

some historical works featuring similar subjects.

Seven contemporary artists are featured in the show – Francesca Anderson (scratchboard), Jean

Emmons (watercolor on vellum), Monika deVries Gohlke (etching), Ingrid Finnan (oil on paper),

Asuka Hishiki (watercolor), Catherine Watters (watercolor on vellum), and Carol Woodin (watercoloron vellum).

   

Asuka Hishiki

The seven artists are some of the most notable artists working in the fields of botanical and natural history art, with several having received Gold Medals from the Royal Horticultural Society of the UK as well as numerous other awards. Depicted are a range of subjects including an owl, lizards, insects, and fruits and flowers.              
                                           
Arader Galleries has juxtaposed some notable historical works alongside these contemporary artworks. These include works by Maria Sibylla Merian (insects, natural history), Pierre-Joseph Redouté (botanicals), Blanche Ames (orchid botanicals), Albertus Seba (shells and reptiles), and Giovanni Ferrari (fruits and botanicals). The historical works provide an interesting comparison between artists past and present, and show how natural history subjects continue to fascinate artists working today.

Ingrid Finnan, Carol Woodin

For  inquiries; Please call 415-788-5115, or visit us at Arader Galleries 432 Jackson Street, San Francisco, Ca 94111.

Menlo Charity Horse Show

Equestrian enthusiasts, and riders alike we are happy to announce that we will be at the splendid Menlo Charity Horse Show!

"Menlo boasts one of the most elegant shopping experiences ever found at an equestrian event."

Stop by our table to purchase a selection of rare engravings from Audubon's Birds and Redoute botanicals to Gold Rush Maps.

Join us from Tuesday August 9th- Sunday14th for a wonderful equestrian and shopping experience.

Get a sneak peak of what you can expect at the show here. 

Printmaking: A Continuous Dialogue

Sorbum
Leonhart Fuchs (1501-1567)
From De Historia Stirpium
Basel: 147
Hand-colored woodcut engraving

On Tuesday, February 23, 2010, Arader Galleries in San Francisco had the pleasure of attending “Art Sandwiched In,” a series of noontime luncheons held at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which presents prominent members of the art community in panel discussions on a myriad of art related topics. “Printmaking at the Heart of the Creative Process,” a discussion on the history and current practices of printmaking, featured a panel including Kathan Brown, founder of the Crown Point Press artist Laura Owens, Griff Williams, owner of Gallery 16/Urban Digital Color, artist Darren Waterston and was moderated by the SFMOMA’s curator of painting and sculpture, Janet Bishop.

An informative video, filmed at the Crown Point Press, introduced the process of printmaking. Viewers witnessed the different steps to making prints and saw as Laura Owens, an artist-in-residence at the time, carefully created her works. Kathan Brown and Griff Williams spoke about their interests in printmaking and how their respective workshops and galleries have developed the process with modern technology while using the same skill, dedication and preciseness as artists in the 15^th century. Laura Owens spoke about her influences in printmaking, the images and ideas she uses and her process and how they may relate to, but become far removed from her other formal paintings and works.

Griff Williams and Darren Waterson also discussed their interests in using digital technology to create images which are then engraved and printed. In their collaborative book, “The Flowering,” thirteen images by Waterson were inspired by the experience and readings of St. Francis of Assisi and produced through relief printing, digital pigment printing and hand-coloring.

The dialogue between original and contemporary printmakers is still strong, as the process and desire for originality remain the same. Arader Galleries is proud to have numerous printmaking artists in its collection including Leonhart Fuchs’s woodcut herbals from the 16th century, Giovanni Battista Ferrari’s copperplate engraving from the 17th century and Pierre-Joseph Redoute’s botanical stipple engravings, all of which are meticulously created and expertly hand-colored.

The Superb Engravings from Risso & Poiteau’s Histoire Naturelle des Orangers

The magnificence Pierre Joseph Redouté brought to the art of rose and lily illustration was equaled by his pupil, Pierre Antoine Poiteau, in the splendid engravings of oranges, lemons and grapefruit presented in the Histoire Naturelle des Orangers. This spectacular publication has long been admired by botanical art connoisseurs and was singled out by Wilfrid Blunt for providing “a Hesperidean holiday among the orange and citrus groves.” He went on to state that this beautiful and inspiring work is in no way inferior to Redouté’s Les Liliacées or Les Roses and given the opportunity Poiteau might have enjoyed the same renown as his master.

However, among those who studied under Redouté, Poiteau is perhaps one of the most successful. Born at Ambleny, near Soissons, his skill in botanical illustration was undoubtedly helped by an apprenticeship at the Paris Jardin des Plantes where he was singled out by Thouin and trained as a botanist. He went on to found the Bergerac botanical garden and later traveled to San Domingo to collect plant specimens.

Poiteau’s watercolor technique was learned from Redouté and it is likely that the master also influenced the choice of stipple engraving in the production of the plates for the Histoire Naturelle des Orangers. Redouté used this process in the creation of his own Les Liliacées and Les Roses and was thus able to give his illustrations a softness and graduation of tone previously unachievable in botanical engraving and also witnessed in Poiteau’s images.

Orangeries began to appear in European gardens during the seventeenth century and their popularity continued for several centuries. They quickly became a favorite area for strolling no doubt due to the plants exotic and sweet-smelling aroma. However, the orangeries were also the location for the creation of new citrus cultivars and Poiteau’s text beautifully illustrates not only the wide selection of strangely shaped fruits from around the world, but also new citrus varieties. The foliage, exterior and interior of each fruit is exquisitely displayed and each golden orb glows upon the sheet. The images are testaments to the amazing advances in scientific investigation and yet also provide the observer with aesthetically beautiful and accomplished depictions.

The Histoire Naturelle des Orangers was dedicated to the Duchesse de Berry and its vibrant illustrations can be considered glowing masterpieces of French botanical illustration, completed during the period in which France excelled in the field.

These extraordinary hand-colored stipple engravings are currently on display at Arader Galleries' 435 Jackson Street, San Francisco location. For more information, please visit www.aradersf.com or call 415.788.5115.

A Distribution of Watercolors by Pierre-Joseph Redoute

Plate 170 - Stoloniferous Golden Winter-Star
Original watercolor on vellum for Les Liliacées

Art is commonly understood to denote skill used to produce aesthetic result. Applying this definition to the work of Pierre-Joseph Redoute, reveals an artist who has produced the highest quality of art. Indeed, Redoute’s Les Liliacees displays his mastery of both technical and artistic skill. Les Liliacees challenges limitation and delicately captures the infinite beauty of nature.

Les Liliacees was Redoute’s largest and most ambitious work, for he carefully recorded the anatomical details of blossom and bulb that allow a scientist to classify the plant according to the Linnean System. Produced under the patronage of Empress Josephine at Malmaison, these watercolors have been legendary for over 200 years.

Arader Galleries is pleased to invite you to join us on Saturday, April 25th, 2009 at 1:00 p.m. in New York City at our 1016 Madison Avenue gallery for the distribution of 100 of the original watercolors on vellum. Painted by Pierre-Joseph Redoute for the Empress Josephine between 1802 and 1814, these 100 watercolors are from his iconic masterpiece Les Liliacees. 50 shares are available and each share will contain 2 watercolors.

Arader Galleries San Francisco currently has a selection of Redoute watercolors available for viewing that will be included in the syndication. The exquisiteness of these watercolors cannot be represented in a photograph and must be viewed in person! We would be happy to bring these watercolors to your home should a visit to the gallery not be convenient for you.

Don’t miss this opportunity to own an original watercolor by the artist considered to be the greatest flower painter! For more information, or to reserve your share in the syndication, please call Arader Galleries at 415.788.5115.

Celebrating the Art of France with the French Heritage Society

Arader Galleries hosted a reception on May 1, 2008 for the French Heritage Society to celebrate The Art of France, a collection of extraordinary 16th through 19th century works of art. The French Heritage Society is dedicated to preserving French architectural, cultural and historical patrimony in the United States and France, and to furthering American-French understanding through student and professional exchanges in the field of preservation.

The event helped to raise funds for the French Heritage Society's current efforts to restore the early 17th Century Chateau de Reveillon. It was a lovely evening, and we thank the all of the attendees for their interest in learning about our collection of French artists.