Rhona Brown (September 23, 1922 - March 14, 2014), was a South African

botanical artist Botanical illustration is the art of depicting the form, color, and details of plant species, frequently in watercolor paintings. They must be scientifically accurate but often also have an artistic component and may be printed with a botanical ...

and housewife. Brown was educated at

University of Natal The University of Natal was a university in the former South African province Natal which later became KwaZulu-Natal. The University of Natal no longer exists as a distinct legal entity, as it was incorporated into the University of KwaZulu-N ...

in Pietermaritzburg and

UNISA The University of South Australia (UniSA) is a public research university in the Australian state of South Australia. It is a founding member of the Australian Technology Network of universities, and is the largest university in South Australi ...

graduating with a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

(Hons.) in Fine Arts and with a National Art Teachers Certificate. She worked at the Botanical Research Institute in

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

for two spells - 1944-46 and 1965–69 and taught sporadically for eight years. She completed some 100 plates for the ''Flowering Plants of Africa'' and black-and-white illustrations for ''Bothalia'' and ''Flora of Southern Africa''. She provided about half of all illustrations for Palmer & Pitman's ''Trees of Southern Africa'' and all the illustrations for Eve Palmer's ''Field Guide to the Trees of Southern Africa''. She married Comdt. H.T. Collett on 2 March 1946.

Publications

*1972 ''Trees of Southern Africa'' by Eve Palmer & Norah Pitman, illustrated By Rhona Collett (3 vols.) *1977 ''A Field Guide to the Trees of Southern Africa'' by Eve Palmer, illustrated By Rhona Collett (William Collins & Sons Ltd.) *Calligraphy Teachers Manual - Rhona Collett et al.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Rhona 1922 births 2014 deaths 20th-century South African women artists 21st-century South African women artists University of Natal alumni University of South Africa alumni Botanical illustrators South African painters