A diverse range of labels—including adventurer, mountaineer, glacial geologist, botanist, photographer, and painter—are descriptive of Mary Vaux Walcott (1860–1940). A pioneer in the fields of science, art, and exploration, Walcott is best known for the 1925 to 1928 publication of her five-volume set of exquisite watercolor studies cataloguing North America’s wildflowers. This highly acclaimed seminal work led to her sobriquet: the “Audubon of Botany.”
Her sketches and illustrations that number near 1,000 continue to be exhibited and republished. Their enduring appeal and importance lie in their combination of great beauty and scientific accuracy.
Artistic Catalyst
Wildflower artist Mary Vaux Walcott at Great Falls on the Potomac River, on April 30, 1914. Public Domai
Walcott was born into a prosperous Philadelphian Quaker family, the eldest of three siblings. In childhood, she was given a painter’s box, which she kept for the rest of her life. This paint set was the catalyst for her first forays into painting flowers and landscapes. In the late 19th century, the pursuit of botanical drawings was deemed a suitable hobby for an educated young woman. However, it was assumed ladies gathered inspiration from their gardens, not from a precipitous peak thousands of miles away from home in the great outdoors.
Walcott intended to attend Bryn Mawr College, but the unexpected early death of her mother required that she stay home and care for her father and brothers. Despite the loss of this opportunity for formal higher education, a new path emerged: In 1887, the Vauxes began making annual amateur scientific research trips to the Canadian Rockies, and Walcott was included as an active participant by her family.
(L) "Iris (Iris species)” and "Wild Rose and Blue-eyed Grass (Rosa species and Sisyrinchium species)," 1939, by Mary Vaux Walcott. Watercolor on paper; 10 inches by 7 inches. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington. Public Domain
On their first trip, the Vauxes traveled 10,000 miles, employing transportation both typical (foot, horse, ferry, carriage) and new (the Canadian Pacific Railway). The trip was eventful, as they survived a train crash and a derailment.The family were adept photographers, especially Mary; she became known for her ability to assemble a darkroom even at a mountain campsite. They began capturing the Illecillewaet Glacier, taking perhaps the first ever photos of it. Their documentation lasted more than 40 years.
Walcott kept a travelogue of these west Canadian adventures as she collected and captured images of wildflowers with her paints. She even climbed Mount Stephen, which is over 10,000 feet. Walcott achieved further feats as an outdoorswoman throughout her life, and Mount Mary Vaux in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada is named in her honor.
Arnica alpina, 1905, by Mary Vaux Walcott. Watercolor on paper sheet; 10 1/8 inches by 7 inches. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Public Domain
During one of these summer trips, Walcott painted a rare blooming arnica at the request of a botanist. It was met with praise, and she was inspired to apply herself to scholarly botanical illustration. She searched high and low for rare flowering species and was unrelenting in her quest. Walcott always worked in the field, making her watercolor sketches on-site, which was an uncommon practice. She felt this was necessary to accurately capture color. Battling discomfort and mosquitos, speed was key as uncut wildflowers can last only for a day or sometimes just a few hours. Walcott was known to work up to 17 hours outside.
(L) "Moss Campion (Silene acaulis)," 1924, and "Rocky Mountain Kalmia (Kalmia microphylla)" by Mary Vaux Walcott. Watercolor on paper; 10 inches by 7 inches. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington. Public Domain
Walcott’s botanical watercolors are exquisite in their shade, hue, light, detail, movement, and composition. These precise illustrations are unusual for the period as she rendered the plants to scale. Some pages of miniature specimens feature empty wide margins whereas depictions of large blooms may be cropped at the edge.
(L) "Umbrella Tree (Magnolia tripetala)," 1932, and Mountain Rose-Bay (Rhododendron catawbiense), 1932, by Mary Vaux Walcott. Watercolor on paper; 10 inches by 7 inches. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington. Public Domain
In the early 20th century, one by one, Walcott’s family members were unable to visit the Canadian Rockies.Nevertheless, she continued her scientific expeditions, going with friends or traveling solo, a bold choice for a woman at the time. In 1914, she married paleontologist Charles Doolittle Walcott, head of the Smithsonian Institution. During their happy marriage, they spent summers in the Canadian Rockies engaged in respective research. Mary assisted her husband with cataloguing fossils during their winters in Washington. Their marriage was a true partnership where each supported one another’s work.
Smithsonian Institute
"Cliffrose (Cowania stanshuriana)," 1934, by Mary Vaux Walcott. Watercolor on paper; 10 inches by 7 inches. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington. Public Domain
As the wife of a prominent Washingtonian, Walcott stepped into a new role: society hostess. She excelled in this milieu, giving prominent parties for international dignitaries and Cabinet officials. She was also a frequent White House guest. Starting when Herbert Hoover was secretary of commerce and continuing through his presidency, Walcott was close friends with his wife, Lou, a fellow Quaker and geologist. When the Walcotts spent their winters in Washington, Mary assisted her husband with cataloguing his fossils.
The couple were devoted to the Smithsonian and were generous benefactors. The proceeds from the five oversized volumes of “Wild Flowers of North America” were donated to the Institution’s endowment. The work, which features 400 watercolor plates of her paintings, was created in the 1920s at the urging of fellow scientists.
The publication was also innovative because of its printing technique, which became known as the Smithsonian Process. Layers of waterproof ink were run on heavy paper that consisted of cotton “rag” fibers. Each page was intentionally not fully dried in between printings of individual colors. The pages were then dipped in water in order to raise their fibers. Afterwards, each was hand-dried, which gave the finished product a rougher surface evocative of the original watercolor. This method allowed for the most accurate color reproduction and was resistant to fading.
Mary’s husband Charles predeceased her when he died in 1927. Upon Mary’s death in 1940, she bequeathed $400,000 to the Smithsonian fund she and her husband had previously established. Almost 80 years later, new information about her work came to light. Some of her collected botanical samples had been misattributed to Charles.In 2019, a Smithsonian intern working on a collections digitization project uncovered this oversight.
In 2022, the Smithsonian Gardens named an orchid hybrid for her, x Rhyncattleanthe Mary Vaux Walcott. It was a fitting honor as her oeuvre features unusual orchids. Her extensive work brought North America’s floral diversity, with its ephemeral wildflowers both fragile and robust, to the general public’s attention.
Walcott’s boundless curiosity, boldness, productivity, vibrancy, and originality permeated her botany, fine art, and philanthropy. She was as rare as the rarest of wildflowers she pursued and preserved for posterity by means of her artistically realistic illustrations.
The Mary Vaux Walcott orchid (x Rhyncattleanthe Mary Vaux Walcott) is a cross between x Rhyncattleanthe Carolina Orange D’Or "Lenette" and x Cattlianthe Trick or Treat "Orange Magic." Smithsonian Gardens. Public Domain
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Michelle Plastrik
Author
Michelle Plastrik is an art adviser living in New York City. She writes on a range of topics, including art history, the art market, museums, art fairs, and special exhibitions.
