Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature

by Emma Laws, Annemarie Bilclough, Richard Fortey, Liz Hunter MacFarlane, Sarah Glenn

Genres: Art, History
Pages: 216
Rating:

Synopsis:

This beautiful book explores the beloved writer’s achievements as a storyteller, artist, and naturalist.

Beatrix Potter’s universe of characters—Peter Rabbit, Squirrel Nutkin, Jemima Puddleduck—have delighted audiences for over a century. A creative pioneer and determined entrepreneur, she combined scientific observation with imaginative storytelling to create some of the world’s best-loved children’s books. This volume showcases Potter’s charming charac-ters against the backdrop of her exquisite botanical drawings, humorous illustrated letters to friends, Lake District landscapes, and rarely seen photographs.

Beatrix Potter’s endearingly hand-painted world of animals and gardens made her one of the most celebrated children’s book authors of all time, yet this is but one facet of her creative life. Drawn to the picturesque English countryside after a London childhood, Potter had a passion for nature that influenced her many achievements as a naturalist, artist, storyteller, and later in life as a fervent conservationist and “gentlewoman” farmer. This book sheds light upon the connections between her art, entrepreneurial success, and legacy in preservation.

Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature has been put together by a bunch of different writers based on their particular interests, so there are a few different names authoring this volume. It does still feel pretty cohesive for all that, although sometimes the topic/information repeats a little between the main chapters and the shorter sections that add more detail.

It’s beautifully illustrated with papers from Potter’s own collection and some other related info, and it’s lovely to get a sense at times of the process she went through. I had known a few things about her, but not in any fine detail, and I didn’t know anything about her married life or — strangely enough, as I am a member — her foundational work with the National Trust.

I must say, as someone who has rabbits, looking at her sketches and studies you can really see how fine her observation was. That is exactly how rabbits are put together, and even when she’s anthropomorphising a little, she knows what essential rabbitness looks like. (Though I think the bun she was sketching in some cases needed more food; those hips were way too prominent for our vet’s taste!)

A lovely book, beautifully illustrated.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)