A Look at the Collection: Lawrence Beck – Botanical Studies

The American artist Lawrence Beck (b. 1962) takes us into the world of plants with his long-term series Botanical Gardens, offering our museum a remarkable thematic continuation after the exhibition on Karl Blossfeldt. Comparable to the historical position, the photographs taken by Beck between 1998 and 2008 with a large-format camera and largely analog, are also subject to an objective, concentrated view. However, there is one decisive difference: unlike Blossfeldt, Beck shows plants in their natural habitat – even more so, in places specially cultivated by people, such as parks or botanical gardens. Sometimes it is only at second glance that the plant labels with the classifying names can be discovered in the photographs. However, these play an important role for Beck, as they illustrate how much our access to the botanical world can also be shaped by rational, scientific considerations. Like traffic signs or labels in a museum context, these types of signs provide us with classification and orientation. What Beck finds equally fascinating about the labels is how imaginative and idiosyncratic the names given to plants can be. In an American garden, for example, he finds rose species that bear the name "Dortmund" or "Sombreuil". The latter probably goes back to Mademoiselle Marie Maurille Virot de Sombreuil, a heroine of the French Revolution. He looks at an "Agave peacockii", an agave whose shape is reminiscent of a peacock's tail, or at cacti that are called "old man cactus", which jokingly reminds us of old men.

Lawrence Beck has worked on views of water lilies in particular over a long period of time, not only illustrating many varieties but also creating photographs with a considerable pictorial space. Reflective water surfaces are able to direct the viewer’s gaze both into the depths and into the sky and merge the contrasting dimensions. Beck probably discovered the type of motif of water lily pictures through inspiration from Claude Monet's paintings, but the medium of photography, which requires light, appears to be a particularly effective artistic tool.

In addition to his finely drawn black and white compositions, the artist also impresses with several color photographs of alpine meadows in northern Italy from his Alpine Wild Flowers series. He took these from a low perspective in all-over views that reveal every blade of grass and every flower. There are no nameplates to be seen here. With the photographer's eyes, we are almost directly in nature and can enjoy the beauty of the flowering meadows. Before viewing Lawrence Beck's paintings, we should quote a thought from the art historian and renowned American curator Sandra S. Phillips: "As we now find ourselves at a critical point in our relationship with our environment, we can be reminded [by Lawrence Beck's pictures] of man's need to find an appropriate and peaceful relationship with nature."

We would like to thank Lawrence Beck for the generous donation of 44 photographs, which are an excellent addition to Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur's holdings of his works.