Joy Claire Allison Dalby (born 20 November 1944) is a British artist and book illustrator who mainly depicts botanical subjects and who works in watercolours, gouache and wood engraving.

Biography

Dalby, whose father was the respected watercolour painter Charles Longbotham, was born in

St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...

in Scotland. She attended the

Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls Haberdashers' Girls' School is an independent day school in Elstree, Hertfordshire. It is often referred to as "Habs" (or "Habs Girls" to distinguish it from the neighbouring Haberdashers' Boys' School). The school was founded in 1875 by the Wo ...

Acton Acton may refer to: Places Antarctica * Mount Acton Australia * Acton, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Acton, Tasmania, a suburb of Burnie * Acton Park, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, formerly known as Acton Canada ...

in west London from 1955 to 1963. Dalby studied art, specialising in engraving and calligraphy, at the

City and Guilds of London Art School Founded in 1854 as the Lambeth School of Art, the City and Guilds of London Art School is a small specialist art college located in central London, England. Originally founded as a government art school, it is now an independent, not-for-profit ...

from 1964 to 1967. In 1966 she had her first picture exhibited at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

in London. Dalby exhibited at the Clarges Gallery in 1968 and in 1972. A number of solo exhibitions followed including at

Camberley Camberley is a town in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately south-west of Central London. The town is in the far west of the county, close to the borders of Hampshire and Berkshire. Once part of Windsor Forest, Cambe ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

during 1975, at Halifax House in Oxford in 1987 and at the Consort Gallery of

Imperial College Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

in both 1981 and 1988. Also in 1988 Dalby had a solo exhibition at the

Shetland Museum The Shetland Museum and Archives is a museum in Lerwick, Shetland, Scotland. The new Shetland Museum at Hay's Dock was officially opened on 31 May 2007 by Queen Sonja of Norway and the Duke & Duchess of Rothesay (Charles & Camilla). Previous b ...

Lerwick Lerwick (; non, Leirvik; nrn, Larvik) is the main town and port of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland. Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick had a population of about 7,000 residents in 2010. Centred off the north coast of the Scottish mainland ...

. She has participated in a number of group shows including exhibitions organised by the

Society of Wood Engravers The Society of Wood Engravers (SWE) is a UK-based artists’ exhibiting society, formed in 1920, one of its founder-members being Eric Gill. It was originally restricted to artist-engravers printing with oil-based inks in a press, distinct from ...

, the

Royal Watercolour Society The Royal Watercolour Society is a British institution of painters working in watercolours. The Society is a centre of excellence for water-based media on paper, which allows for a diverse and interesting range of approaches to the medium of wa ...

and the

Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE), known until 1991 as the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers, is a leading art institution based in London, England. The Royal Society of Painter-Etchers, as it was originally styled, was ...

. Dalby provided botanical illustrations for a number of books and created two wallcharts, illustrating over 500 different species of lichens, for the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

. In 1989 a collection of her botanical illustrations was published as ''Claire Dalby's Picture Book''. In 1994 the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...

awarded Dalby their

Jill Smythies Award The Jill Smythies Award of the Linnean Society of London was established in 1986 and is awarded annually to a botanical artist. The award was established by Bertram Smythies, in honour of his wife, Florence Mary Smythies ("Jill"), whose career a ...

for outstanding botanical illustrations and in 1995 she was awarded a gold medal by the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

. Works by Dalby are held in a number of British museums including the Natural History Museum, the

Science Museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in mu ...

, the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

and the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...

in Oxford. The

Royal Collection The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world. Spread among 13 occupied and historic royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King Charles III and overseen by the ...

, the

Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Vis ...

and the

National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales ( cy, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru), Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million boo ...

also hold examples as do the

Hunt Institute The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation (HIBD), dedicated as the Rachel McMasters Miller Hunt Botanical Library in 1961, is a research division of Carnegie Mellon University. History HIBD is named for Rachel McMasters Miller Hunt. She don ...

and the

Australian Biological Resources Study Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS) is a project undertaken by Parks Australia Division of Australia's Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA). Background ABRS was founded in 1973 from the recommendations ...

Centre in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

Books illustrated

* ''The Observer's Book of Lichens'' by K L Alvin * ''The Family Water Naturalist'' by H Angel & P Wolseley, Joseph, 1982. * ''Women Engravers'' by P Jaffe, 1988. * ''Even the Flowers'' by

Freda Downie Freda Downie (20 October 1929 – 4 May 1993) was an English poet. Downie was born in London, growing up in the outskirts of Shooters Hill. The family were evacuated to Northamptonshire at the start of World War II in September 1939. They retur ...

, Gruffyground Press, 1989, with an engraved frontispiece by Dalby * ''Claire Dalby's Picture Book'', 1989. * ''Colour Identification Guide to Grasses, Sedges and Ferns'' by F Rose, 1991. * ''Crucifers of Great Britain and Northern Ireland'' by T Rich, 1991. * ''

Flora of Australia The flora of Australia comprises a vast assemblage of plant species estimated to over 30,000 vascular and 14,000 non-vascular plants, 250,000 species of fungi and over 3,000 lichens. The flora has strong affinities with the flora of Gondwana, ...

'', Volume 54, 1992. * ''Images from Nature'', Natural History Museum, 1998.

Memberships

Dalby is a member of or affiliated with the following organisations;- * 1973 Elected associate of the

* 1977 Elected full member of the Royal Watercolour Society * 1978 Elected associate of

. * 1982 Elected full member of Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers. * 1991 Vice-president of the Royal Watercolour Society. Dalby is also a member of the Society of Wood Engravers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalby, Claire 1944 births Living people 20th-century Scottish painters 20th-century Scottish women artists 21st-century Scottish painters 21st-century Scottish women artists Alumni of the City and Guilds of London Art School People educated at Haberdashers' Girls' School People from St Andrews Scottish women artists Scottish women painters