Plans
are under way to stage an exhibition of the works of renowned Monash artist
Celia Rosser in the US in the year 2000. Fran Martin looks at the career of
the fashion illustrator-turned-botanical artist who is close to achieving a
monumental goal. Celia Rosser is soon to be the world's first botanical artist to paint all 76 of the known species of banksia.
A long association with Monash University, which began in 1970 when Rosser accepted a position as an artist in the Science faculty, has enabled her to pursue this monumental task. Although originally trained as a fashion illustrator, she turned to painting wildflowers as a young wife and mother in rural Victoria. There she discovered and began painting the banksias that became her obsession.
In his work, The Art of Botanical Illustration, William Stearn describes Rosser's banksia paintings as "the finest botanical illustrations produced in Australia by an Australian".
In 1965, two years after her first exhibition of wildflower paintings at the Leveson Gallery, Rosser published her first book, Wildflowers of Victoria. Impressed by her work, the National Herbarium of Victoria commissioned Rosser to paint the six Victorian banksias, including the four originally discovered by Joseph Banks in 1770.
Later, Monash University provided her with the means and resources to pursue her ambition to paint all the species, and appointed her Vice-Chancellor's Botanical Artist.
The three-volume work, The Banksias, the first two volumes of which were published in 1981 and 1988, has so far taken more than 22 years. It consists of reproductions of Rosser's life-sized paintings with accompanying text by recognised botanist and banksia authority Alex George. The eight paintings needed to complete the work are all in their final stages. Rosser hopes to finish them early next year so that publication of the third and final volume can occur the following November.
Painstakingly rendered, Rosser's water-colours are attracting worldwide attention. She was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1995 and the Jill Smythies Award for Botanical Illustration by the Linnean Society of London, and her stature as a botanical artist continues to grow.
Rosser has managed to produce internationally acclaimed work despite having no formal botanical training. The demands of the task are considerable. Some flower heads, for example, contain more than a thousand inflorescences that for botanical accuracy require meticulous delineation. Particular about her work, the artist travels Australia-wide to select specimens from their natural habitat. This allows her to observe and accurately depict growth habit, form and colour.
Each life-size painting takes from 10 to 12 weeks to complete and goes through many stages, from the first rough in pencil to the final scientifically verified painting.
For William Stearn, they are exquisite works of art. "Their grace and accuracy entitle them to be placed alongside the superb Australian wildflower paintings of the great Ferdinand Bauer."