Mee Pl. 21, Lorantaceae
Oppenheimer Editions Print
28 1/2" x 20"
Limited edition of 300
Published 2004
Blind embossed with the Oppenheimer Editions and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew logos
The Flowering Amazon, The Oppenheimer Kew Gardens Edition
Margaret Mee’s lavish paintings of orchids and bromeliads from the Amazonian forests represent more than the life and spirit of a talented artist drawn to adventure. Her eloquent and precisely painted visions of the vanishing rainforest lay vibrant testimony to the struggle between nature and commerce, thus working to preserve the wild habitats she painted and loved. She is a twentieth-century embodiment of the artist-explorer, with the added virtue of social consciousness. In this regard, her work lays claim to not only artistic merit and scientific accuracy, but stands as an historic witness to preserving a habitat rich in botanical diversity.
Established in 1999, Oppenheimer Editions has partnered with prestigious museums to make prints from their holdings. Works from the New-York Historical Society’s unrivaled collections of John James Audubon’s watercolors and the Hudson River School paintings are examples of art that otherwise would be unobtainable. Among the institutional collections we have partnered with are the American Museum of Natural History, the Field Museum, and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. These are not mere reproductions. They are limited-edition fine art prints made with the finest quality archival pigments on rag watercolor paper and executed to exacting standards.