English Botanical Artist
Mary Emily Eaton (1873 - 1961)
Trained in art and drafting, Mary Emily Eaton (1873 – 1961) began her career creating designs and painting porcelain for the Royal Porcelain Works. In l909 she traveled to Jamaica to visit her brother and sister. During this visit which lasted two years she began painting butterflies and moths. The detail of her paintings so impressed the director of the National Geographic Society (NGS) that he was able to secure a position for her as staff artist. In 1911 she moved to New York and began painting a succession of wildflowers for the NGS magazine, and in 1924 NGS published these wildflower paintings in The Book of Wildflowers. From 1914 –1932 she worked for The New York Botanical Garden where she was principal illustrator for their serial publication, Addisonia. While with The New York Botanical Garden she also illustrated for Contributions from the U.S. National Herbarium and continued to illustrate for National Geographic Society Magazine. Unable to find work in the United States during the depression she returned to England. Her works are in the collections of The National Geographic Society, The Smithsonian Institution, The New York Botanical Garden and The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation. While exhibiting at the Royal Horticultural Society she was recipient of the 1922 Silver and 1950 Gold Grenfell medals. Of her over 1,000 published paintings the best known works are the line drawings and paintings in Britton and Rose’s publication, The Cactaceae (1919 -1923). Her works are in the collections of The National Geographic Society, The Smithsonian Institution, The New York Botanical Garden and The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation.
The following paintings were produced for Britton and Rose's The Cactaceae.
Click on image to see enlarged version with details.
All materials on this page are copyright © Smithsonian Institution and their respective copyright holders.
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