The Davis Museum opened “A New Perspective on Nature” exhibiting Rory McEwan’s work on Sept. 26. The event was celebrated with a magnificent spread of floral cupcakes and visitors dressed in similar eye-catching hues. “A New Perspective” –– a traveling art exhibit –– displays Rory McEwen’s artwork from his lifetime (1932–1982), collected by various donors over multiple decades. McEwen specialized in hyper-realistic paintings of botanical life using watercolor on vellum (parchment made from calf skin) He most famously painted tulips and other flowers, but also experimented with depictions of vegetables and leaves. According to the Davis exhibit, McEwen’s work is credited as “one of the standard-bearers of today’s renaissance in botanical painting.”
McEwen’s preference for botanic subjects stems from his upbringing amongst the elder generations of Scottish aristocracy. McEwen’s mother was a botanist, and his childhood French governess encouraged McEwen to draw from nature. Wilfrid Blunt (the mind behind the seminal book “The Art of Botanical Illustration”) introduced McEwen to prominent French botanical artists and eventually acknowledged McEwan as “perhaps the most gifted artist to pass through my hands.” McEwen’s exhibit at the Davis is structured chronologically; visitors begin by encountering his early works, which often depict the artist’s personal influences. The exhibit then flows into McEwen’s later-stage deviation from florals, hyperrealism and painting in general.
In McEwan’s work, the inspiration from observational drawing is clear, as well as the style of medieval manuscripts and finely-detailed linework. The exhibit concludes with pieces from other artists (for whom McEwen provided inspiration), tracing a full circle of McEwen’s life as a student inspired by others, eventual master and inspiration himself.
Rihanna Perry ’28, one of the Davis Museum’s student staff members, mentioned how the placement of his paintings’ subjects to the side, and even the choice of painting an individual flower or plant on a blank background, may have been influenced by contemporary pop art. A clear display of this influence is found in the limited portfolio of seven glass sculptures McEwen created around 1969 that heavily resemble pop and conceptual art, and arguably are of those genres, with geometric shapes and abstract designs. He also experimented with non-western styles of art; “Spring Wind” (1978) aimed to be, according to the exhibit, “a modern equivalent of that supreme scroll of grey daffodils by Chinese artist Chao Meng-chien.” “Spring Wind” is loose and painted with a large brush, evoking a feeling of freedom that is less poignant than in McEwen’s signature, photo-realistic works.
Late in his life, McEwen turned to painting leaves during their process of decomposition, and named the pieces –– such as “Limerston Street” –– after the momentary location of the chosen leaves themselves (a contrast to his other works whose titles echo the subject itself). McEwen was quite mesmerized by the leaves, writing in his journal that “every one of them is like a personality, especially when they are dying –– I don’t think of them as dying but simply showing the marks of time and experience.” Unfortunately, the decomposing leaf paintings came to represent a dark though nearly poetic omen; McEwen was diagnosed with terminal cancer soon after he completed the series.
McEwen’s “A New Perspective on Nature” deserves its name for presenting a classical art style and medium through the unique positional lens of the artist himself. Exhibit visitors are likely to be pleased with McEwen’s work –– which presents the familiar subject of nature, but communicates more than meets the eye with its realism and attention to detail. From his realistic paintings of decaying leaves, it is speculated that they were his way of processing his own decline in health. His paintings also bring up the questions about the challenges of an artist who worked in such a realistic style during a time when it was not in demand, and suggests a love for his work and botanicals beyond societal value.
“A New Perspective on Nature” will remain open at the Davis Museum until Dec. 15, 2024.
Contact the editors responsible for this story: Ivy Buck, Norah Catlin
