Untitled (Sugar Maple and False Solomon's-Seal)
Medium
Drawing
Classification
Drawing
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Carolann Smurthwaite in memory of her mother, Caroline Atherton Connell Smurthwaite
Accession Number
1983.83.35
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the Smithsonian American Art Museum's collection *Untitled (Sugar Maple and Solomon's-Seal)*1889) by Georgebert Burr captures the delicate beauty of two native North American plants: the sturdy sugar maple tree, iconic for its vibrant autumn foliage and sap used in maple syrup, and the graceful false Solomon's-seal a woodland perennial with arching stems and starry white flowers. Created as a drawing early in Burr's career, work reflects the late 19th-century fascination with natural history and precise botanical observation, a time when artists like Burr—later renowned for his atmospheric ...
About the Artist
George Elbert Burr
George Elbert Burr was an American printmaker and watercolorist whose career spanned the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, earning him a reputation as one of the foremost etchers of the American West. Born in 1859 in Monroe Falls, Ohio, Burr trained as a commercial illustrator before turning his full attention to fine art. He honed his craft through diligent self-study and close obser...