A PASSION FOR PROTEAS

The botanical art of Louise Guthrie.

by John Rourke, Compton Herbarium, Kirstenbosch

f you meander down the archives of the University of Cape creator of this exceptional record corridorS of South Africa House Town. Now, after a week long was still alive and living at Caledon. I in Trafalgar Square, London, you exhibition of seventy-six of these A visit was arranged to meet Miss may notice, among various artworks paintings arranged in April 2000 by Guthrie. Thus it was that in on the walls, some water-colours the Hermanus Botanical Society at November 1964 I drove to Caledon depicting Cape wildflowers. Signed Fernkloof, her work has at last been with a fellow student, Ted Oliver, to L. Guthrie, they were, until recently, brought to the attention of an appre­ call on the eighty-five year old among the only examples of Louise ciative public. artist. Though rather frail, she spoke Guthrie's paintings on public It was in the animatedly about her passion to display. The main body of her work, during my student years in the early paint all the South African some 264 illustrations of South 1960s that I first encountered the Proteaceae. Leucadendron cJYpto­ African Proteaceae, has lain largely Guthrie paintings. The Proteaceae cephalum discovered on Shaw's unseen for sixty years in the Bolus was a research interest of mine so I Pass near Caledon by Louise herself Herbarium and latterly in the was delighted to discover that the and later described by her in the

120 Veld &- Flora September 2001 I /

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Left Leucospermum patersonii painted by Louise Guthrie. Right /0 Pen and indian ink drawings by Louise Guthrie showing the dissected floral parts of Protea scabra.

Journal of South African , life in South Africa to his principal descriptions of new plant species, was a source of particular pride and preoccupations, mathematics and apparently without any difficulty. interest. I left that afternoon with botany. Much of Guthrie's mathe­ Art lessons must surely have also pleasant memories of a remarkably matical fame rests on his 1852 played a part in her formal talented lady; a gift in the form of a proposition known as the Four schooling. painting of Serruria aitonii, and a Colour Conjecture. This seemingly At the age of twenty, a major great desire to know more about this intractable problem was only solved upheaval occurred in Louise's life. unassuming botanical artist. in 1976 with the use of massive Her father, Prof. Francis Guthrie Isabel Louise Sophie Guthrie, the cOTlJputer calculations (Appel, K. & died in October 1899. Raapenberg fourth child of Francis Guthrie and Haken, W. 1989. Every planar Map was let to tenants while Louise and Isabella Grisbrook was born in Cape is four colorable. American her mother went to live in Caledon Town on 10 October 1879 where her Mathematical Society, 98, 1-2.). with her eldest brother, Francis father had recently been appointed In 1875 the Guthries settled in Alexander Charles Guthrie (founder Professor of Mathematics at the on the farm Raapenberg, of the well-known firm of Overberg South African College. The family overlooking the Black River, near attorneys, Guthrie & Theron). By the had previously lived in Graaff­ the present day road interchange end of December 1899 the new Reinet. It was in this historic Karoo between Pinelands and Mowbray. house being built by Francis (or town that Prof. Guthrie had Here Louise spent her early Frank as he was usually known) developed an abiding interest in childhood in what were then rural was nearing completion. 'Alandale', botany, having arrived there in 1861 surroundings, with the fascinating the Guthrie residence in Caledon, to teach mathematics at the newly Cape Flats flora on her doorstep. became her home and it was here established college. In fact, it was She seems to have taken an interest that she painted the colour plates Guthrie who encouraged another in plants at an early stage, probably we see today. Indeed, she spent the Graaff Reinet resident, Harry Bolus, strongly influenced by her father, greater part of her adult life either to take up botany as a mental who was by then actively collabo­ in Caledon or at the family holiday diversion after the death of Bolus' rating with Harry Bolus on their home, Glen Varloch at Hermanus young son. mammoth account of Erica for the near the mouth of the Mossel River, Guthrie was a man of wide intel­ Flora Capensis. travelling between them via Shaw's lectual interests. He had graduated As a teenager, Louise matricu­ Pass and that most seductively with a BA and LLB from London lated from the newly established beautiful of valleys, Hemel-en­ University and although he worked Rustenburg Girls High School which Aarde, where specimens for for some time in London as a clearly provided her with a painting could be gathered at every barrister he soon abandoned law thorough education as she was bend in the road. and devoted the remainder of his capable of writing lengthy Latin Once established in Caledon

Veld &' Flora September 2001 121 Mrs Louisa Bolus had been appointed curator of the herbarium. So it was perhaps not unexpected that Mrs Bolus should employ the daughter of her uncle's closest friend as a member of the herbarium staff. The herbarium proved to be a stimulating intellectual environment; it also gave Louise a solid grounding in basic plant systematics which resulted in her publishing some seventeen new species of flowering plants (mostly Ericaceae and Proteaceae) in Annals of the Bolus Herbarium. Perhaps more importantly, this involvement with the Bolus Herbarium brought Louise into contact with Mary Page, who ranks among the most brilliantly talented botanical artists to have worked in South Africa. (Miss Page was at that time Mrs Bolus' botanical artist.) 0 doubt all these factors played a part in Louise re­ focusing her life to combine her taxonomic and artistic skills into a worth­ while project where both could be utilized. In 1927 she resigned from her post in the herbarium, returning to Caledon a!.9Jhrt'e 3 where she spent the '1 -'/. remainder of her life Leucadendron corymbosum painted by Louise Guthrie. living with the family of her brother Francis. At first sight it seemed there was regular correspondence here who teaches from life at all and as if her productive life had entered between Louise and the ageing there are many girls anxious to a cul-de-sac. But this was not so. Harry Bolus, with Bolus encour­ learn.' Instead, she embarked upon the aging the young woman in her Louise sent paintings of orchids most creative phase of her life, artistic endeavours. Painting and and other plates to Bolus and in pursuing a vision that resulted drawing were clearly her principal return he sent gifts of books, some in the splendid collection of outlets during her early twenties. In of them botanical works. The 264 botanical illustrations of a letter to Harry Bolus in 1899 she Bolus/Guthrie connection provided South African Proteaceae. wrote 'When once we are settled I the next significant opening for On 8 October 1930, Louise wrote intend to get up a class for drawing Louise. In 1918 she joined the staff to Mrs Bolus requesting the loan of & painting. I am told that I ought to of the Bolus Herbarium. Harry Bolus Volume 5 of the Flora Capensis get lots of pupils, as there is no one had died in 1911, but his niece, (covering the Proteaceae). The

Veld &' Flora September 2001 122 classification set out in this book started out as a comprehensive Acknowledgements was to serve as the blue print for her collection was now merely two I am much indebted to Mrs Joy Guthrie It Roberts of Hermanus and other members grand plan, which was to paint all thirds complete. is a sad story of the Guthrie family for obtaining the known species of southern where timing and economic photographs of Louise Guthrie as well as African Proteaceae. Caledon, being conditions conspired to thwart the biographical information. Mrs Lesley Hart almost at the centre of diversity for artist's noble intentions. of the Dept. of Manuscripts and Archives, the family in our region, was the Her soft outlines, almost impres­ University of Cape Town gave me access to the Guthrie paintings and permission to ideal operational base. She sionistic brush work and rich, reproduce them. She also assisted in continued, 'When I have got my intense tones result in images that tracing correspondence between Harry scheme in shape I will be glad to are not as intimidatingly scientific Bolus and Louise Guthrie, while Dr Peter show you what I am attempting and as the work of some botanical Bruyns of the Dept. of Mathematics, University of Cape Town, kindly provided invite your opinion of the same, the artists. Louise was especially adept information on Francis Guthrie's idea has been taking a strong hold at capturing those subtleties of form, mathematical interests. of me lately and I am very keen on texture and conformation that go to making a start'. In fact, she had make up what one may call the A list of references and further reading is made a start as early as August personality of a plant species. She available on request from the Editor, tel (021) 794 4391 or [email protected]. 1925 - the earliest dated plate. understood her subjects with the This established the size of the eye of a botanist yet she plates at 177 x 280 mm, a format immortalized them with that was thereafter used for the the hand of an artist. entire collection. Apart from the main The majority were completed collection of Miss Guthrie's over a decade between 1930 and work in the u.eT archives 1940; a few were painted in the and some examples in early 1940s; the last was dated South Africa House, October 1947. Most ofthe speci­ London, a number of her mens illustrated were collected in botanical paintings are the veld by Louise herself. Others, owned by members and especially from beyond the confines descendants of the Guthrie of the Caledon district, were family with a few others in obtained by Frank Guthrie while private hands.® TP. Stokoe, Capt. TM. Salter and Prof. R.H. Compton gathered some of the more 'difficult to find' high altitude species. Voucher specimens bearing the artist's collecting number are all preserved in the Bolus Herbarium. Finally, in July 1948, Louise Guthrie brought her great project to a close. The 264 colour plates each accompanied by detailed pen and ink drawings of the dissected floral parts and catalogued according to the 1912 Flora Capensis account of the Proteaceae, were donated to the Bolus Herbarium. There they Right remained until a few years ago Louise Guthrie at about the when they were transferred to the age of nineteen, circa 1898. University of Cape Town archives. Below The Guthrie family setting off Miss Guthrie continued to from Caledon to their produce occasional botanical illus­ Hermanus holiday home, trations but she became progres­ circa 1910. sively more confined to her home in Caledon where she died in February 19J}6 in her eighty-seventh year. Why were the Guthrie plates never published? In 1948, post-war austerity was very real; the technology of inexpensive colour printing still in its infancy while the market for specialized botanical books was extremely limited. By the time these circumstances had changed in the 1960s and 1970s, so many new species in the Proteaceae had been discovered and described (approximately 354 species are presently recognized) that what

Veld f/ Flora September 2001