24 Haseltonia, No. 7, 2000

MARY EMILY EATON, A GIFTED BOTANICAL ARTIST

Introduction As a botanical illustrator, Mary Emily Eaton's

work is not well-known by succulent plant hobbyists. While some have seen her beautiful art work in the original edition of Britton and Rose's The Cactaceae, they often fail to recog­nize her as the artist. But in addition to The Cactaceae, her work also graces other publica­tions. Actually, she produced a considerable body of work, and the quality of elegance in her watercolors is well-recognized. Indeed, the term plant portraiture could be justly applied to her paintings.

Eaton lead a modest artist's life. Like most women illustrators of the 19th century, her ca­reer was passed in relative obscurity, and only one picture of her is known to exist. But Eaton

was a remarkable and accomplished person and what is known about her life story is worth sharing.

Mary Emily Eaton She was born at Coleford, Gloucestershire,

England, on November 27, 1873, eldest daugh­ter of the Reverend Thomas Kerby Eaton. After attending private schools in London, she re­ceived formal training in art. While Eaton had no specialized botanical training, she was al­ways attracted to flowers.

She was employed for a period as a painter for Worcester porcelain. In 1909, at 36, she went to stay with a brother in Jamaica, where she began painting moths and butterflies. She left there in June 1911 to visit friends in New

F i g 1. The only k n o w n picture of Mary Emily Eaton. (Courtesy of Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, Pa.)

LARRY W.MITICH 2223 Amador Avenue, Davis, CA 95616

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F i g 2. Title page of Eaton's first and only book, The Ark and Nonsense Lines for Nonsense Lovers, pub­lished in 1901. It encompasses 50 pages and 22 water-color illustrations.

F i g 3. The Ark is a compilat ion of whimsical verses and pictures. This one, "Three Tawny Tigers Taking Tea", demonstrated her ability for painting animals.

York.The thoroughness to detail which she dis­played in these paintings paved the way for her appointment as artist to the New York Botani­cal Garden, where she was employed from June 1911 to January 1932.

In 1915, the National Geographic Magazine launched an ambitious program to publish American wildflowers and hired Eaton as the artist. By 1925, she had produced some 245 full-page color illustrations in seven issues of the magazine. Additionally, she contributed most of the illustration to National Geographic's es­teemed The Book of Wild Flowers (1924).

She was the principal contributor to the New York Botanical Garden's illustrated serial Addisonia and prepared over 640 of the 800 plates; many of her plates featured succulent

plants. [Addisonia: colored illustrations and popular descriptions of plants, New York: New York Botanical Garden, 1916-1964; publication ceased with volume 24.] Eaton did the vast ma­jority of cactus paintings and line drawings used to illustrate Britton and Rose's The Cac-taceae (1919-1923), and these remain her best-known works.

At the New York Botanical Garden, Otto De-gener shared the same office with Eaton. He was writing Flora Hawaiiensis: The New Illus­trated Flora of the Hawaiian Islands. The emi­nent Drs. Nelson Lord Britton, John Hendley Barnhart, and Per Axel Rydberg were his in­structors. Degener worked on a table near Mary Eaton's high slanting desk and high chair.

Recalled he: "Early in the morning a garden-

F i g 4. Eaton's piece de resistance was Bri t ton and Rose's The Cactaceae. In her watercolors, she captured the essence of the plants. This plate of Opuntia spp. is f r o m Vol. 1, Plate XIV. F i g 5. Colorful species of Echinocereus and Lobivia from Vol. 3, Plate V. F i g 6. The chollas Opuntia tunicata and O.spinosior make a colorful display, Vol. 1, Plate X. F i g 7. Eaton captures the beauty of some Weberocereus spp. in Plate XXXIX, V o l . 2 .

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4 5

6 7

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er would bring some flowering sprig gathered in one of the greenhouses for Miss Eaton. She would arrange it to her liking and, I believe without outlining anything with pencil, painted the specimen in water colors. Miss Eaton's paintings were made incredibly fast, perhaps in little more than a morning.

"Miss Eaton was very English, very reserved and proper and, since we had not been formal­ly introduced, I guess we worked at our respec­tive tables for a week or more without speak­ing to one another! Miss Eaton was considered wealthy, with abundant stock in a famous Swedish match company. Years later, I visited her in the Bronx. At that time she was not fi­nancially well-off because of the Kruger Match Co. swindle.

"When Miss Eaton's National Geographic article appeared in print, she was very pleased, of course, and offered me a copy."

Her original art work is now in the perma­nent collections of the National Geographic So­ciety (over 600 botanical watercolors); the New York Botanical Garden; the National Geo­graphical Society, Washington; the British Muse­um of Natural History; and the Smithsonian In­stitution (most of the originals of Britton & Rose's The Cactaceae). The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation also has a few exam­ples of her work, as well as plates on indefinite loan from the Smithsonian.

Mrs. Marjorie G. Hodgson, Winchester, Eng­land, was Mary Eaton's niece. In 1970 she wrote from her home: "Mary Emily Eaton was an ex­tremely modest person and the records she left about herself and her work are rather thread­bare. Her father was ordained a Deacon of the Church of England in 1871 and a priest in the following year.

"In 1911 she went to Jamaica, ostensibly to spend a holiday with her youngest brother, Clif­ford Kerby Eaton, who resided there as a ba­nana planter, but she had already been there at least once before. Her eldest brother, Cranley Kerby Eton, was my father. She lived with her brother Clifford until journeying to New York, probably at the invitation of Bronx Park Botani­cal Garden. She spent the next 36 years of life in New York, and although she never visited England during that period, she never re­nounced her British nationality.

"Among her works is Ark and Nonsense Lines for Animal Lovers published by George

Allan, London, in 1901. This is a small, now ob­scure, nursery-rhyme book for children fash­ioned and illustrated by Eton. Without becom­ing an American citizen, she returned to England in May 1947. Eaton retained her facul­ties up to within a month of her death, when senility suddenly overcame her and she lost the will to live. She died at 88 on August 4, 1961, at Cossington, Somerset, England, and is buried at North Newton, Somerset."

In May 1914 Eaton received this letter from Andrew Carnegie: "Many thanks for the beauti­ful painting of the Giant Cactus of Arizona [Carnegiea gigantea] which bears my name given by some kind friend no doubt belonging to the Carnegie Research Commission which is doing great work. While I am unaware of the discoverer it is fortunate that I have the plea­sure of knowing the artist, and of wishing her long and happy years among those who love her well. Mrs. Carnegie something of an artist herself has taken possession of the treasure and sent it to be framed."

Some events mentioned by Mrs. Hodgson: In May 17, 1932, an article in the New York Times referred to her exhibition of about 100 water-colors at the N. Y. Botanical Garden Spring In­spection... In April 30, 1946, Eaton received a letter from Lord Halifax, British Ambassador in Washington, appreciative of her war services... In May 1947, Mary returned to England... In January 31, 1956, she received the Royal Horti­cultural Society's Gold Grenfell Medal award for her exhibit of watercolor paintings of Amer­ican wildf lowers.

The Book of Wild Flowers, National Geo­graphic Society, 1924, featured 120 color plates of flowers by Eaton. Commented editor William Joseph,"She is regarded as the greatest of living wild flower painters. She painted the likeness of the flowers with the highest botanical accu­racy."

From November 1976 to 25 March 1977, the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsyl­vania, presented an exhibition on American Wildflowers, featuring Eaton's watercolors. The National Geographic Society made its entire collection of her watercolors available for exhi­bitions, and furnished enlarged prints of Na­tional Geographic copyrighted photographic illustrations from its files. A quote from the magazine: "An artist's talent can be fairly ap-

F i g 8. Eaton painted over 640 succulents for Addisonia over a several-year p e r i o d . This depicts Ecbeveria whitei, plate 344. F i g 9. One of her earlier succulent pictures is Nolina texana, plate 4 1 . F i g l O . Eaton captured the charm of Graptopetalum rusbyi, plate 304. F i g 1 1 . Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum ( L . ) T o r r . ) demonstrates Eaton' skill in portraying w i l d f l o w e r s . From The Book of Wild Flowers, National Geo­graphic Society, Washington, 1927.

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praised only on the basis of his or her original artwork. The exhibition offered a rare opportu­nity to study the originals of a richly gifted artist-illustrator."

Known Publications 1901. The Ark and Nonsense Lines for Ani­

mal Lovers. George Allan, London. May 1915. National Geographic Magazine

published the first of seven articles illustrated by Mary E. Eaton: "American Wild Flowers," 29 illustrations.

1916-1964. Major contributions of color i l ­lustrations to Addisonia, published by New York Botanical Garden.

June 1916. National Geographic Magazine: "Common American Wild Flowers," 17 illustra­tions.

June 1917'. National Geographic Magazine: "State Flowers," 30 illustrations.

1918. Ink illustrations published in John Kunkel Small's Ferns of Tropical Florida, New York, and Ferns of Royal Palm Hammock, New York. (Many of the first book's illustrations are reproduced in John K. Smith's Ferns of Florida, New York, 1931.)

February 1919- National Geographic Maga­zine: "American Berries," 29 illustrations.

July 1922. National Geographic Magazine: "Midsummer Wild flowers," 38 illustrations.

1919-1923. The Cactaceae, descriptions

and illustrations of plants of the cactus family, by N. L. Britton and J. N. Rose, Washington, 4 volumes.

June 1924. National Geographic Magazine: 47 illustrations.

1924. National Geographic Society: The Book of Wild Flowers, 241 illustrations, 243 pp.

July 1925. National Geographic Magazine: "Pages from the Floral Life of America," 55 illus­trations.

1928. Illustrations in William Stugis Thomas' Field Book of Common Gilled Mushrooms, G. P. Puttman's Sons, New York. 332 pp.

1932-1940. Otto Degener's Flora Hawai-iensis, or The New Illustrated Flora of the Hawaiian Islands, Honolulu- / fascicles.

Additional Illustration Projects Before 1947

Three flower-plates in black-and-white for the Comstock Publishing Company. Color prints in the American Museum Natural History series: North American Butterflies, Game Birds of North America, and Injurious Insects.

References Hunt Institute Portrait Collection, 1972, page 204. W. Blunt, Art of Botanical Illustrations, 1955,256 p p . Internet: <http://www.nmnh.si.edu/botart/eaton.htm>