Image credit: Gainsborough’s House.
Mahaut de la Motte, Curatorial Apprentice, at Gainsborough’s House tells us about the display:
“The Iris Florilegium of Sir Cedric Morris is running alongside the main show, Revealing Nature: The Art of Cedric Morris and Lett-Haines. The Florilegium showcases 27 botanical watercolours of existing cultivated varieties of bearded iris created by Cedric Morris. They have been painted by Gold Medal winners of the Botanical Art Show, Royal Horticultural Society. In 2018, The Iris Florilegium of Sir Cedric Morris was awarded the Finnis Scott Foundation Botanical Art Award.”
“The name florilegium is the Latin word for a catalogue of flower illustrations. It is linked to the beginnings of botanical art in the 1300s when the discovery of rare, exotic plants, primarily from the Far-East, inspired the creation of minutely illustrated records. Modern florilegia are mostly interested in recording endangered plants or from a specific place. It is in that spirit that Dr Siân Dawson, curator of the exhibition, coordinated the catalogue of a selection of irises bred by Sir Cedric Morris (1889–1982).”
“Morris was influenced by his friend Angus Wilson to start breeding and cultivating new species of irises. He named many of his irises from his wide circle of friends, for example Benton Cordelia, after Cordelia Dobson. The portraits of both Angus Wilson and Cordelia Dobson are currently exhibited in the main exhibition Revealing Nature: The Art of Cedric Morris and Lett-Haines. Others were named for pets including Baggage and Menace for his two cats at Benton End. Morris was hugely successful as a gardener and flower painter and the extent of his achievements is celebrated by these works.”
“The show is accompanied by a selection of documents and photographs about Benton End garden taken from the Cedric Morris archive at Gainsborough’s House. The archive is available to researchers by appointment.”
The Iris Florilegium of Sir Cedric Morris
July 6 – November 3, 2024
https://gainsborough.org/event/sir-cedric-morris-florilegium/
Access to the Archive: https://gainsborough.org/collection/livanos-study-room/
This summer the main exhibition at Gainsborough’s House is Revealing Nature: the Art of Cedric Morris and Lett-Haines. These two 20th-century artists were partners in art and love for 60 years from their meeting on Armistice Night in 1918, for the most part living, working and teaching in Suffolk.
Featuring over 90 works the exhibition includes oils, watercolours, photography, pastel and ‘little sculptures’ made of found materials to tell the story of these trail blazing artists. It illustrates the breadth of their interests from abstract art, to portraits, landscapes and the flower painting for which Morris has become celebrated.
Open daily from 10am – 5pm
Admission: £16.50 with Gift Aid
Find out more about this exhibition and other events we have running throughout the Summer: www.gainsborough.org
