Discover the Scottish artist and musician Rory McEwen (1932-1982), one of the 20th century’s greatest botanical painters.

McEwen’s luminous depictions of flowers, leaves, butterflies, and decaying vegetables breathed new life into the genre. Infusing modern creativity into the centuries-old genre with his distinctive use of light and space, McEwen blurred the boundaries between botanical illustration and modern art.

In so doing, he changed the course of contemporary botanical art and inspired a whole new generation of artists.

McEwen was also a skilled musician and pivotal figure in the 1960s folk music revival movement. He appeared weekly on the BBC Tonight show, and in 1963 he produced, presented and performed on the seminal music programme Hullabaloo.

The London home he shared with his wife Romana McEwen (née von Hofmannsthal) was a hub of creativity where artists, writers, poets, and musicians from around the world convened. It was where George Harrison of The Beatles took his sitar lessons with Ravi Shankar, and Bob Dylan partied with Marianne Faithfull after his last acoustic gig in 1965.

The exhibition will explore McEwen’s botanical works alongside his experiments in abstract and sculpture, and personal items including photos, letters, paintbrushes, works in progress, his guitar and musical ephemera.