A Flowering Legacy

A Retrospective Exhibition of the Botanical Work of Pauline Dean (1943-2007)

Pauline Dean, who was born in Brighton, lived in the Borough of Guildford from 1968 until her death from cancer in October 2007.  she was awarded eight Gold Medals by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and had work included in two other Joint Gold Medal exhibits.  She was also awarded three Silver-gilt and one Silver Medal.

Having trained as a nurse at the Middlesex Hospital, Pauline came late to the art world.  With no formal art training, her introduction to botanical painting came in 1985.  She had however, passed both art and botany at 'A' level.

The late 1980s saw a renaissance of botanical art and in 1991 Pauline's study of a Horse Chestnut tree and its fruit was purchased by Dr Shirley Sherwood who was building up her unparalleled collection of work by contemporary botanical artists.

Pauline enjoyed painting almost any type of flower or fungi but she was happiest when producing fine-detailed studies with dissections of seeds or flowers and cross sections of fungi.  For ten years, from 1991, Pauline tutored Art Courses at RHS Wisley Garden, only stopping because of her illness.

Following a solo exhibition at the Guildford House Gallery in 1997 Pauline had another in the Botanic Garden in Geneva in 1999.  She had stands at the RHS Chelsea Flower Shows in 1998, 2000 and 2001.

Whilst in hospital in 2001, having had an operation that revealed she had cancer, Pauline received a certificate telling her that her painting of Pinus x holfordiana had been awarded 'Best in Show' at the Horticultural Society of New York 4th Juried International Exhibition.

In 2004, with her husband, she published Pauline Dean - Portfolio of a Botanical Artist.    This contains a short autobiography and 56 plates of her work.  In a Foreword, Gordon Rae, a former Director General of the RHS, says "Pauline Dean ranks alongside the best of the great botanical artists of the late twentieth century".

Despite her ill health in 2006 she was able to accept an invitation to show some of her work and give a talk on botanical painting at the International Exhibition on Botanical Illustration for Tropical Plants at Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden in Thailand.

Guildford House Gallery
155 High Street
Guildford
Surrey
GU1 3AJ

Tel: 01483 444740
Fax: 01483 444742
Email: guildfordhouse@guildford.gov.uk