Margaret Mee
Encyclopedia
Margaret Ursula Mee, MBE
(born 22 May 1909 – 30 November 1988) was a British botanical artist who specialized in plants from the Brazil
ian Amazon rainforest
. She was also one of the first environmentalists to draw attention to the impact of large-scale mining and deforestation on the Amazon Basin
.
in 1909. She attended Dr Challoner's Grammar School
, Amersham
, followed by The School of Art, Science and Commerce, Watford
. After a short period of teaching in Liverpool
she decided to travel abroad.
In 1933 she was in Berlin
and witnessed the burning of the Reichstag and subsequent Jewish boycott
which confirmed her left-wing views. During the Second World War she worked in Hatfield
as a draughtswoman at the de Havilland
aircraft factory.
and joined the Communist Party
. Margaret addressed the TUC
in 1937, proposing the raising of the school-leaving age and was subsequently offered, but declined, a job with Ernest Bevan. The marriage to Bartlett was not happy and, after a long separation, ended in divorce in 1943. She later married Greville Mee, who was also attending St. Martin's School of Art, in the late 1940s.
. In 1950 she attended the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, where she learnt her style of illustration, and received a national diploma in painting and design in 1950.
She moved to Brazil with Greville Mee, in 1952 to teach art in the British school of São Paulo
. Her first expedition was in 1956 to Belém
in the Amazon Basin. She then became a botanical artist for São Paulo's Instituto de Botanica in 1958, exploring the rainforest and more specifically Amazonas state
from 1964, painting the plants she saw, some new to science, as well as collecting some for later illustration. She created 400 folios of gouache
illustrations, 40 sketchbooks, and 15 diaries.
Mee travelled to Washington D. C., USA in 1964 and briefly to England in 1968 for the exhibition and publication of her book, Flowers of the Brazilian Forests. She returned to Brazil and joined protests to draw international attention to the deforestation of the Amazon region.
, Leicestershire
on 30 November 1988. She was 79. In January 1989 a memorial to her life, botanical work and environmental campaigning took place in Kew Gardens.
for services to Brazilian botany and a fellowship of the Linnean Society
in 1986. She also received recognition in Brazil including an honorary citizenship of Rio in 1975, the Brazilian order of Cruzeiro do Sul
in 1979, In her honour, after her death the Margaret Mee Amazon Trust was founded to further education and research in Amazonian plant life and conservation
, by providing scholarships for Brazilian botanical students and plant illustrators who wish to study in the United Kingdom or conduct field research in Brazil.
In 1990 Mee was recognised for her environmental achievements by The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and added to its Global 500 Roll of Honour
.
The Diaries of Margaret Mee, which she wrote between 1956 and 1988, were published posthumously in 2004 and included an illustrated account of her expeditions to the Amazonian rainforest. Most of her illustrations are now part of the Kew Gardens
collection.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 22 May 1909 – 30 November 1988) was a British botanical artist who specialized in plants from the Brazil
Amazônia Legal
Amazônia Legal is the largest socio-geographic division of the South American nation of Brazil, which contains all of its territory in the Amazon Basin...
ian Amazon rainforest
Amazon Rainforest
The Amazon Rainforest , also known in English as Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America...
. She was also one of the first environmentalists to draw attention to the impact of large-scale mining and deforestation on the Amazon Basin
Amazon Basin
The Amazon Basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries that drains an area of about , or roughly 40 percent of South America. The basin is located in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela...
.
Early life
Margaret Ursula Brown was born in Whitehill, CheshamChesham
Chesham is a market town in the Chiltern Hills, Buckinghamshire, England. It is located 11 miles south-east of the county town of Aylesbury. Chesham is also a civil parish designated a town council within Chiltern district. It is situated in the Chess Valley and surrounded by farmland, as well as...
in 1909. She attended Dr Challoner's Grammar School
Dr Challoner's Grammar School
Dr Challoner's Grammar School, often abbreviated to DCGS, is an Academy Grammar School of approximately 1,300 boys located in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England....
, Amersham
Amersham
Amersham is a market town and civil parish within Chiltern district in Buckinghamshire, England, 27 miles north west of London, in the Chiltern Hills. It is part of the London commuter belt....
, followed by The School of Art, Science and Commerce, Watford
Watford
Watford is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated northwest of central London and within the bounds of the M25 motorway. The borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the urbanised parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District.Watford was created as an urban...
. After a short period of teaching in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
she decided to travel abroad.
In 1933 she was in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
and witnessed the burning of the Reichstag and subsequent Jewish boycott
Jewish boycott of German goods
The Jewish boycott of German goods refers to one of the international Jewish initiatives against Nazi Germany.The boycott started in March 1933 in both Europe and the US. According to Berel Lang it was uncoordinated and soon ended...
which confirmed her left-wing views. During the Second World War she worked in Hatfield
Hatfield, Hertfordshire
Hatfield is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England in the borough of Welwyn Hatfield. It has a population of 29,616, and is of Saxon origin. Hatfield House, the home of the Marquess of Salisbury, is the nucleus of the old town...
as a draughtswoman at the de Havilland
De Havilland
The de Havilland Aircraft Company was a British aviation manufacturer founded in 1920 when Airco, of which Geoffrey de Havilland had been chief designer, was sold to BSA by the owner George Holt Thomas. De Havilland then set up a company under his name in September of that year at Stag Lane...
aircraft factory.
Personal life
She married twice. Firstly to Reginald Bruce Bartlett in January 1936. Like her husband, she became a committed trade union activist for the Union of Sign, Glass and Ticket WritersSign and Display Trade Union
The Sign and Display Trade Union was British trade union that existed between 1917 and 1972.Formed in 1917 as the National Union of Sign, Glass and Ticket Writers and Kindred Trades it represented workers engaged as a sign, glass, poster or ticket writer, or in any branch of subsidiary and allied...
and joined the Communist Party
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...
. Margaret addressed the TUC
Trades Union Congress
The Trades Union Congress is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in the United Kingdom, representing the majority of trade unions...
in 1937, proposing the raising of the school-leaving age and was subsequently offered, but declined, a job with Ernest Bevan. The marriage to Bartlett was not happy and, after a long separation, ended in divorce in 1943. She later married Greville Mee, who was also attending St. Martin's School of Art, in the late 1940s.
Career as artist
After the war she studied art at St. Martin's School of Art, LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. In 1950 she attended the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, where she learnt her style of illustration, and received a national diploma in painting and design in 1950.
She moved to Brazil with Greville Mee, in 1952 to teach art in the British school of São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
. Her first expedition was in 1956 to Belém
Belém
Belém is a Brazilian city, the capital and largest city of state of Pará, in the country's north region. It is the entrance gate to the Amazon with a busy port, airport and bus/coach station...
in the Amazon Basin. She then became a botanical artist for São Paulo's Instituto de Botanica in 1958, exploring the rainforest and more specifically Amazonas state
Amazonas (state, Brazil)
Amazonas In Brazilian Portuguese. The European Portuguese pronunciation is . In some parts of Brazil the ʃ is also used like in Rio de Janeiro or Belém.) is a state of Brazil, located in the northwestern corner of the country...
from 1964, painting the plants she saw, some new to science, as well as collecting some for later illustration. She created 400 folios of gouache
Gouache
Gouache[p], also spelled guache, the name of which derives from the Italian guazzo, water paint, splash or bodycolor is a type of paint consisting of pigment suspended in water. A binding agent, usually gum arabic, is also present, just as in watercolor...
illustrations, 40 sketchbooks, and 15 diaries.
Mee travelled to Washington D. C., USA in 1964 and briefly to England in 1968 for the exhibition and publication of her book, Flowers of the Brazilian Forests. She returned to Brazil and joined protests to draw international attention to the deforestation of the Amazon region.
Death
Mee died following a car crash in SeagraveSeagrave
Seagrave is a village and civil parish in the Charnwood district of Leicestershire, England. It has a population of around 500. It is north of Sileby and close to Thrussington and Barrow upon Soar....
, Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
on 30 November 1988. She was 79. In January 1989 a memorial to her life, botanical work and environmental campaigning took place in Kew Gardens.
Recognition and honours
In 1976 Mee was awarded the MBEMBE
MBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business Engineering* Master of Business Economics* Mean Biased Error...
for services to Brazilian botany and a fellowship of the Linnean Society
Linnean Society of London
The Linnean Society of London is the world's premier society for the study and dissemination of taxonomy and natural history. It publishes a zoological journal, as well as botanical and biological journals...
in 1986. She also received recognition in Brazil including an honorary citizenship of Rio in 1975, the Brazilian order of Cruzeiro do Sul
Order of the Southern Cross
The National Order of the Southern Cross is a Brazilian order of chivalry founded by Emperor Pedro I on 1 December 1822. This order was intended to commemorate the independence of Brazil and the coronation of Pedro I...
in 1979, In her honour, after her death the Margaret Mee Amazon Trust was founded to further education and research in Amazonian plant life and conservation
Conservation ethic
Conservation is an ethic of resource use, allocation, and protection. Its primary focus is upon maintaining the health of the natural world: its, fisheries, habitats, and biological diversity. Secondary focus is on materials conservation and energy conservation, which are seen as important to...
, by providing scholarships for Brazilian botanical students and plant illustrators who wish to study in the United Kingdom or conduct field research in Brazil.
In 1990 Mee was recognised for her environmental achievements by The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and added to its Global 500 Roll of Honour
Global 500 Roll of Honour
The United Nations Environment Programme established the Global 500 Roll of Honour in 1987 to recognize the environmental achievements of individuals and organizations around the world.The last Global 500 Roll of Honour awards were made in 2003...
.
The Diaries of Margaret Mee, which she wrote between 1956 and 1988, were published posthumously in 2004 and included an illustrated account of her expeditions to the Amazonian rainforest. Most of her illustrations are now part of the Kew Gardens
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, usually referred to as Kew Gardens, is 121 hectares of gardens and botanical glasshouses between Richmond and Kew in southwest London, England. "The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew" and the brand name "Kew" are also used as umbrella terms for the institution that runs...
collection.