Pedicularis bracteosa

Art Historical Context

Mary Vaux Walcott'sPedicularis bracte*, created around 1917-1918, captures the beauty of this wildflower, known as bracted lousewort, native to the mountainous regions of western North America. Walcott a pioneering Quaker artist, mountaineer, amateur botanist, produced over a thousand meticulously detailed watercolor paintings of North American flora her expeditions in the Canadian Rockies and beyond. Gifted by the artist herself to the Smithsonian American Art Museum, painting exemplifies her lifelong dedication to documenting vanishing wildflowers through art. Rendered in watercolor—a mediu...