Indian Paint Brush (Castilleja Miniata)
Margaret Neilson Armstrong American
Not on view
During a 1909 trip to the North American West, Margaret Armstrong collected and drew botanical specimens in Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, and the Canadian Rockies. She found the Indian paint brush depicted here growing in Glacier, British Columbia. Already established as a successful New York book-cover designer, the adventurous artist realized that a guidebook did not yet exist for flowers growing in territory west of the Rockies, apart from California. She made five arduous trips between 1909 and 1914, trekking with women friends through mountains and deserts to gather specimens and make drawings for her Field Book of Western Wild Flowers (1915). This work comes from an album of drawings given to the Museum by family descendants.
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