Fearless World Traveler by Laurie Lawlor

You can learn more about her life and the Marianne North Gallery at Kew Gardens here. Marie North spent the rest of her life traveling and documenting birds and flowers in every continent except Antarctica, every one! For a Victorian woman, she did her best to feed with local foods, travel on boat, foot, horseback, steam, train or whatever she came across, was used to sleep rough, faced serpents and mosquito bites, and kept every painting she ever made to present them in a gallery in London.īy 1882, Marianne North had painted the world. Seriously, when Charles Darwin met her and saw her work, he suggested New Zealand to complete her detailed collection.

Her botanical illustrations where all taken in natural environments, and once she was out of her cage, this bird flew far and wide, going EVERYWHERE.

Look how vibrant and detailed her paintings are:Īfter discovering the blooms and wonders of Jamaica, she did not stop painting and traveling. However, she loved to paint and cared a lot about botany, becoming a self-taught artist who, as soon as was free of her parents (having been nearly a prisoner to their wishes from early age and the first forty years of her life), decided to travel with a widower in a steam boat and set foot on the Jamaica in 1871. They wanted her to sit tight, look pretty and find a suitable Victorian husband. Born in a Downtown Abbey sort of setting in 1830, all she did until her forties was wait around, paint when allowed to, and take care of very strict and traditional parents who wouldn’t allow her to study. I wonder if you could imagine what this woman did. Adventures of Marianne North by Laurie Lawlor (Author) Illustrator: Becca Stadtlander

I find them truly inspirational.įearless World Traveler. Ages 6–9.There is nothing I like more than a beautifully illustrated artist biography, that combines data about the real life of a painter with lush imagery explaining succinctly how they lived and how much they loved their work. And wander and wonder at everything?” Stadtlander’s vibrant watercolor and ink illustrations capture details-gimlet-eyed crocodiles, patterned carpet bags, a crab scuttling over a paint-smeared palette, “marauding crows” stealing “glittering tubes of paint”-that conjure the rich peculiarities of North’s intrepid and privileged life.

Lawlor’s narrative of North’s astounding journeys on steamships, camels, and canoes weaves in direct quotes that capture her irrepressible spirit-“Did I not paint?. She began to travel the world alone, painting the pictures of flowers and plants that fill her namesake gallery in London’s Kew Gardens. In this captivating picture book biography, Lawlor tells how Marianne North (1830–1890), born into great wealth in England, faced a total lack of support for her interests in music, art, and botany: “Marianne’s mother said she was wasting her time.” Trapped into a caretaking role until her father’s death, she finally found freedom at age 40.

Fearless World Traveler by Laurie Lawlor