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Lot Essay
Rebecca John is a celebrated British botanical artist, whose quietly powerful work has won widespread acclaim in the United Kingdom and internationally. Working only in watercolour and pencil, she brings to her subjects a rare balance of delicate observation and poetic sensitivity. Her meticulous studies of plants, lichens and wild flora are imbued with a quiet intensity that reflects both a painter’s eye and a writer’s sensibility. Her book, Thinking the Plant: The Watercolour Drawings of Rebecca John (2020), was favourably reviewed by Susan Owens in Burlington Magazine 2021.
Since her first solo exhibition, Rebecca has shown regularly in major galleries in England, Wales and abroad, including at the distinguished Lefevre Gallery in London, where her exhibitions were notably sell-out successes. It was here that Grey Gowrie, who wrote the introduction to the catalogue, compared her work to Rory McEwan. Her work has also been exhibited in the United States, Italy and Japan, further extending her reputation among collectors and institutions internationally.
Rebecca’s paintings are represented in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, and the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, as well as in numerous private collections worldwide. Her finely observed depictions of natural forms continue the great British tradition of botanical art while extending it into a more contemplative and modern register.
In addition to her artistic practice, Rebecca has contributed to art historical scholarship, co-editing The Good Bohemian (2017) with Michael Holroyd - a volume of letters offering insight into the life of her grandmother, Ida Nettleship.
Since her first solo exhibition, Rebecca has shown regularly in major galleries in England, Wales and abroad, including at the distinguished Lefevre Gallery in London, where her exhibitions were notably sell-out successes. It was here that Grey Gowrie, who wrote the introduction to the catalogue, compared her work to Rory McEwan. Her work has also been exhibited in the United States, Italy and Japan, further extending her reputation among collectors and institutions internationally.
Rebecca’s paintings are represented in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, and the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, as well as in numerous private collections worldwide. Her finely observed depictions of natural forms continue the great British tradition of botanical art while extending it into a more contemplative and modern register.
In addition to her artistic practice, Rebecca has contributed to art historical scholarship, co-editing The Good Bohemian (2017) with Michael Holroyd - a volume of letters offering insight into the life of her grandmother, Ida Nettleship.