UNTIL recently, the last paying attraction that visitors to London could get into was Kew Gardens. All that open space and wholesome vegetation meant that it was less of a hazard than anywhere else, except the public parks.
It’s much more than a park, of course, although it is owned by the same person who owns the best of them (Hyde, Green, Kensington Gardens, Richmond and more). That person is Queen Elizabeth, of course. She also has a palace at Kew Gardens but has never used it.
Sadly, even Kew Gardens is now closed. Before that, the inside spaces were closed anyway. This was a shame but probably wouldn’t have been noticed as few visitors go into what I’d say is the best bit of Kew Gardens.
The North Gallery sounds like a geographical pointer when in fact it is dedicated to the work of Marianne North.
North was one of the greatest botanical painters of the 19th century and yet her name is barely known outside this sphere of interest. Most remarkably, she was a woman.
There were plenty of female artists in the 19th century, but very few who travelled to every corner of the world at a time when even the most intrepid males would not dare to. With good reason.
North’s father, a very rich member of the British parliament, had died as a result of globetrotting. Marianne had been his constant companion on journeys as distant as Syria and Egypt. He became ill in the Alps, a place of salubrious fresh air and expensive clinics these days.
Her father’s death did nothing to diminish North’s love of travel. She went much further afield, journeying everywhere from South America to Australia and Southeast Asia. Flora and fauna were her passion. She would travel anywhere that had new species to be documented or discoveries to be made.
INTREPID TRAVELLER
Visiting her gallery, you get a graphic idea of the range of her travels. All four, tall walls of the display space are covered with her works. By walking around the gallery you cover most of the planet. A special place in her heart was reserved for Borneo.
Although she never went to what is now Peninsular Malaysia, much of what she saw in Sarawak will look familiar to viewers from any part of Malaysia.
Mangosteens and durians rub shoulders with plants that I can’t identify but no doubt more adventurous fruit eaters would know instantly. There were some species so rare and inaccessible that she became the first non-local ever to see them. Some plants even bear her name.
Much as she loved the animals and plant life everywhere she went, there was one group of people she developed a strong dislike of. Unfortunately, these were some of the native tribes of Sarawak.
Dayak “headhunters” struck her as being truly offensive. No matter how hard the Brookes, especially Ranee Margaret, tried to persuade her that taking heads was just a tradition, North could never accept it.
The ruler’s wife recorded the discussion in her journal: “I [Ranee Margaret] would reply, ‘They are just like we are, only circumstances have made them different.’ ‘They take heads; that is enough for me’, she [North] would add severely.”
North had almost as much trouble with the very male art establishment back home in England. Being a woman meant a limited audience although she was fortunate in knowing two open-minded and influential men — Charles Darwin and the director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.
To have her work displayed publicly required North not only giving the collection to Kew, but she also ended up paying to build a gallery to house them.
PRIDE OF PLACE
At least she got to exert some control over the project, which was opened in 1882. Her hand wasn’t only responsible for the-more than 800 paintings in the gallery, she also hung them in such a way that no space can be seen between them. The effect is truly remarkable.
It’s not only an astonishing piece of display. According to Kew, it remains the only permanent exhibition by a female artist in Britain.
It seems strange that a woman who could venture into any part of the globe on her own, overdressed in the way of the Victorian lady, should have to work so hard for her paintings to be seen in her own country.
Her genius was not recognised at the time, except by those few enlightened men in her circle. But now, she is acknowledged as a scientist as well as an artist.
As a coincidence of the sisterhood, the only photographs we have of North are by a female photographer — another rare phenomenon in the Victorian era. The difference is that Julia Margaret Cameron has become one of the most celebrated photographers of the 19th century, with a recent exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.
However, North remains relatively unknown. Maybe it’s time for a major exhibition. The only problem is that if any museum took up this opportunity, they would find it extremely difficult to remove the paintings from her gallery as they have been placed so close together. Maybe better just to visit Kew Gardens when it reopens.
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