item details
NamePencil drawing of the Canterbury mountainside published in "New Zealand Alpine Plants" (1973)
ProductionNancy Adams CBE; illustrator; 1971
Classificationsketches, contour drawings
Materialspaper, graphite pencil
Techniquesdrawing
Registration NumberCA000925/001/0015
Credit linePurchased 2007
Overview
Nancy Adams was one of New Zealand’s most prolific botanists and a talented artist. She produced a vast number of botanical illustrations, which were included in widely distributed and well-regarded books about New Zealand flora. Her work, celebrated for its visual appeal and accuracy, includes Mountain Flowers of New Zealand (A.H & A.W. Reed, 1965), Wild Flowers in New Zealand (A.H & A.W. Reed, 1980), and the award-winning Seaweeds Of New Zealand: An Illustrated Guide (Canterbury University Press, 1994).
This image is pencil drawing made by Nancy Adams in 1971 and published on page 24 in New Zealand Alpine Plants (Wellington: Reed, 1973), a book co-authored by Alan F. Mark and Nancy Adams. In the book, the image is captioned, "Fig. 9. Canterbury mountainside showing Ranunculus haastii on the scree slope with Raoulia and Haastia on more stable fellfield.
Adams is renowned for her unique interdisciplinary approach to art and science. She is remembered for the beauty and clarity she achieved in her artwork "coupled with her observational skill, extraordinarily accurate colour palette and the ability to bring life to the species illustrated." (1).
Notes:
1. Wendy Nelson, In Memoriam: Nancy Adams (1926-2007), Phycologia (2008) Vol 47 (1), P2.