Rosa Fiveash botanical artwork

Rosa Fiveash was the most accomplished and the best known of the late 19th and early 20th century South Australian botanical artists. Her drawings are aesthetically attractive without detracting from their scientific accuracy. The Library is fortunate to hold 130 artworks in this series of watercolours of South Australian and Australian flowering plants donated by Rosa Fiveash in 1937.

While still a student at the Adelaide School of Art, her meticulously accurate dissection drawings saw her invited to produce the illustrations for J. Ednie Brown's book Forest flora of South Australia. Fiveash taught art for many years, and one of her pupils was Alison Ashby, who became a prolific botanical artist herself.

Fiveash was part of a wonderful tradition of talented female botanical artists in Australia. The best known was Ellis Rowan, who lived in Victoria but travelled around Australia and the world, earning her the title 'the flower hunter'. In 1902 Rowan visited South Australia and joined Fiveash, an active member of the Field Naturalists group, on an excursion to Brown Hill Creek to see orchids.

Rosa Fiveash was the most accomplished and the best known of the late 19th and early 20th century South Australian botanical artists. Her drawings are aesthetically attractive without detracting from their scientific accuracy. The Library is fortunate to hold 130 artworks in this series of watercolours of South Australian and Australian flowering plants donated by Rosa Fiveash in 1937.

While still a student at the Adelaide School of Art, her meticulously accurate dissection drawings saw her invited to produce the illustrations for J. Ednie Brown's book Forest flora of South Australia. Fiveash taught art for many years, and one of her pupils was Alison Ashby, who became a prolific botanical artist herself.

Fiveash was part of a wonderful tradition of talented female botanical artists in Australia. The best known was Ellis Rowan, who lived in Victoria but travelled around Australia and the world, earning her the title 'the flower hunter'. In 1902 Rowan visited South Australia and joined Fiveash, an active member of the Field Naturalists group, on an excursion to Brown Hill Creek to see orchids.

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