Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Botanical art consists of a complex combination of scientific fact and aesthetic awareness, and is
concerned with more than the realistic representation of a plant and its flowers. It goes beyond
the visual description of scientific information and speaks about the contributions artists have
made through history to the conventions of both art and science. It contains a unique visual
language, conventions which we read intelligently and an evolved tradition, and it is this
language and the development of these conventions within the genre of South African botanical
art, which this thesis investigates.
In South Africa botanical art developed as a direct result of European interest in the flora and
the colonisation of this country by the West. A brief history of responses to South African
plants is discussed in the Introduction in order to begin to establish an understanding of this
tradition and to contextualise the contributions made by 19th-and 20th -century South African
botanical artists.
Now that postmodernity has called for the reassessment and questioning of 'given truths',
alternative ways of assessing botanical art are slowly evolving. Through study and the
comparison of botanical art and artists of South Africa their evaluation as artists is reconsidered.
This issue of defining art and artists is the subject of Chapter One of this study.
Some of the factors that have a bearing on this include: relationships between text and image; art
and science; art and illustration; and how society's expectations of gender roles affect the
production of botanical art.
In order to establish a context from which to discuss plant imagery in South Africa, it is
important to study the history and development of botanical art in this country. Chapter Two
discusses the emergence and development of this art form and its artists, starting with a short
description of people and events from the 1600s and then takes a comprehensive look at
developments in the 19th and 20m centuries. For the artists working within the genre of botanical art, the conventions and inventions are
often explicitly formulated. It is an art based on the logic, scrutiny and informative tradition of
science, where the main objective is to represent a plant's structural essence. Fundamental to our
response to botanical art, however, is the style and technique employed by the artist. Chapter
Three is devoted to a detailed discussion of the work of selected contemporary South African
botanical art and artists. By comparing their work it is possible to establish trends and
developments in representation and the role played by mediums and techniques in this highly
skilled art form.
Since this research has both a theoretical and a practical component, Chapter Four is devoted to
discussion of my own work within the botanical art genre. I describe and illustrate several related
series of paintings and explore established conventions and ways of developing my own stylistic
identity as a botanical artist. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Botaniese kuns bestaan uit 'n komplekse kombinasie van wetenskaplike feite en estetiese
bewustheid, en is gemoeid met baie meer as net die realistiese voorstelling van 'n plant en sy
blomme. Dit gaan verder as net die blote visuele uitbeelding van wetenskaplike informasie, en
behels die bydraes wat kunstenaars deur die geskiedenis tot die konvensies van beide kuns en die
wetenskap gemaak het. Botaniese kuns besit 'n unieke visuele taal, konvensies wat intelligent
gelees word, en 'n ontwikkelde tradisie. Hierdie tesis ondersoek juis hierdie spesiale taal en
ontwikkeling van konvensies binne die genre van Suid-Afrikaanse botaniese kuns.
Botaniese kuns in Suid-Afrika het ontwikkel as In direkte gevolg van Europese belangstelling in
die flora, en Westerse kolonialisasie van hierdie land. In die Inleidingword daar kortliks gekyk na
die geskiedenis van die hantering van Suid-Afrikaanse plante, en het ten doelom eerstens 'n
begrip van hierdie tradisie daar te stel, en tweedens om die bydraes van 19de en 20ste eeuse
Suid-Afrikaanse botaniese kunstenaars te kontekstualiseer.
Sedert Postmodernisme die herevaluering en bevraagtekening van gegewewe waarhede
aangewakker het, is die ontwikkeling van alternatiewe maniere van kyk na botaniese kuns stadig
besig om plaas te vind. Deur die bestudering en vergelyking van botaniese kuns en kunstenaars
van Suid-Afrika, word die botaniese kunstenaar se status as kunstenaar uitgelig. Hierdie kwessie
oor die defmieëring van kuns en kunstenaars is die onderwerp van Hoofstuk 1 van hierdie
werkstuk. 'n Paar van die faktore wat In invloed op laasgenoemde het, sluit in: verhoudinge
tussen beeld en teks; kuns en wetenskap; kuns en illustrasie; en hoe kwessies van geslag soos
waargeneem deur die samelewing die produsering van botaniese kuns beïnvloed.
Dit is belangrik om die geskiedenis en ontwikkeling van botaniese kuns in Suid-Afrika te
bestudeer, sodat daar 'n konteks geskep kan word waarbinne die afbeelding van plante in hierdie
land bespreek kan word. Hoofstuk 2 behandel die totstandkoming en ontwikkeling van hierdie
kunsvorm en sy kunstenaars, en begin met 'n kort beskrywing van mense en gebeurtenisse van
die 1600s wat gevolg word deur 'n uitgebreide kyk na ontwikkelinge gedurende die 19de en 20ste
eeue. Vir die kunstenaars wat werk binne die genre van botaniese kuns, is die konvensies en
bevindings van die medium dikwels breedvoerig geformuleer. Dit is 'n kunsvorm gebasseer op
die logiese, navorsbare en insiggewende tradisie van die wetenskap, waar die hoofdoel die
voorstelling van 'n plant se strukturele essensie is. Fundementeel in die benadering tot botaniese
kuns is die styl en tegniek wat deur die kunstenaar gebruik word. Hoofstuk 3 word gewy aan 'n
gedetailleerde bespreking van die werk van geselekteerde kontemporêre Suid-Afrikaanse
bot~iese kuns en kunstenaars. Deur hul werk te vergelyk is dit moontlik om tendense en
ontwikkelings in die voorstelling en aanbieding van botaniese kuns te bepaal, en wat die rol van
verskillende mediums en tegnieke in hierdie hoogs geskoolde kunsvorm behels.
Weens die feit dat hierdie navorsing uit 'n teoretiese en praktiese komponent bestaan, word
Hoofstuk 4 gewy aan 'n bespreking van my praktiese werk binne die genre van botaniese kuns.
Ek beskryf en illustreer verskeie verwante reekse werke en kyk na bestaande konvensies en die
maniere hoe my eie stilistiese identiteit as botaniese kunstenaar kan ontwikkel binne die medium.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/52458 |
| Date | 03 1900 |
| Creators | Blake, Tamlin |
| Contributors | Arnold, M., Bouma, P., Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences. Dept. of Visual Arts. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | Unknown |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 135 p. : ill. |
| Rights | Stellenbosch University |
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