ILLUSTRATED FLORA OF EAST TEXAS - Brit - Botanical Research ...

268 INTRODUCTION/BOTANICAL ART IN EAST TEXAS
FIG. 168/PAINTING OF NEMASTYLIS GEMINIFLORA (PRAIRIE-CELESTIAL,IRIDACEAE) BY ELIZA GRIFFIN JOHNSTON.FROM JOHNSTON (1972), WITH PERMISSION OF
THE DAUGHTERS OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS,TRAVIS COUNTY CHAPTER.
The late MARY JO LAUGHLIN (1932–1986), who lived and painted for many years in
McKinney, Texas, had a deep love of wildflowers and a strong drive to portray them in
watercolors (Fig. 169). Her “botanically accurate style” is said to have been influenced by
the famous Luxembourg-born artist Pierre Joseph Redouté and other botanical artists, as
well as by antique botanical prints in the collection of the Heard Natural Science Museum
(Fairchild 1989). “Her extensive reading and studying transformed Mary Jo into a knowledgeable
amateur botanist with a deep concern for the preservation and perpetuation of
wildflowers” (Fairchild 1989). She was a prolific painter, and during a career spanning
nearly three decades Laughlin produced more than 1,500 wildflower paintings (Fairchild
1989). Her work can be seen in Grimmer (1982) and Fairchild (1989), and a number of
her paintings are permanently preserved and displayed at the Botanical Research Institute
of Texas through the generosity of her husband, Harold Laughlin.