The High Museum Features Beatrix Potter Exhibit

ATLANTA – The High Museum of Art featured a limited exhibit containing a collection of Beatrix Potter artifacts from London this month.

“The Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature” exhibition is on tour in The United States. From October 13, 2023 to January 7, 2024 this exhibition was on view at the High. This limited event featured dozens of pieces of original sketches and paintings, photographs and even belongings pertaining to this beloved early 1900s children’s book author.

Beatrix Potter’s charming stories featuring her own watercolor illustrations have been beloved for generations. “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” is her most known work, but other stories include “The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle” and “The Tale of Benjamin Bunny.” All artwork pictured was created by Potter.

Figure 1: Benjamin Bunny and Peter Rabbit. Photo by Victoria Grace Tucker

The largest collection of Potter’s artwork is housed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. However, since Spring of 2023, the “Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature” exhibition has been on tour on this side of the pond. Though the display in Atlanta has now ended, here is a small tour of what the exhibition contained.

The exhibition focused on Potter’s life and her love of nature. As a child, she had an absolute fascination with plants and animals. According to the exhibit, a number of her mushroom sketches were so accurate that they were featured in mycologist W.P.K. Findlay’s book Wayside & Woodland Fungi.

Figure 2: Strobilomyces strobilaceus. Photo taken by Victoria Grace Tucker.

Figure 3: Fungi illustration. Photo taken by Victoria Grace Tucker

Figure 4: Fungi illustration 1897. Photo taken by Victoria Grace Tucker.

Potter also had many pets which included rabbits, mice and hedgehogs. In these sketches from her childhood, her future characters are beginning to form.

Figure 5: A hedgehog, assumed to be Beatrix’s pet Mrs. Tiggy, ca. 1904–1905. Photo taken by Victoria Grace Tucker.

Figure 6: A mouse drawing. Photo taken by Victoria Grace Tucker.

Figure 7: Studies of a rabbit head (Benjamin Bouncer), 1890. Photo by Victoria Grace Tucker.

In 1901, Potter published her first story: “The Tale of Peter Rabbit”. The exhibition featured original sketches and a full watercolor used in the 1907 and 1911 editions of the book.

Figure 8: Artwork for The Tale of Peter Rabbit, used in editions between 1907 and 1911. Photo taken by Victoria Grace Tucker.

Figure 9: Variant artwork for The Tale of Peter Rabbit, used in editions between 1907 and 1911. Photo by Victoria Grace Tucker.

Over the next 30 years, Potter published 60 stories. The exhibition had first edition copies of a few, watercolors, and even a panoramic copy of “The Story of Miss Moppet.”

Figure 10: Hunca Munca the Mouse. Photo taken by Victoria Grace Tucker.

Figure 11: Tom Kitten. Photo taken by Victoria Grace Tucker.

Figure 12: Jemima Puddle-Duck artwork and merchandise. Photo by Victoria Grace Tucker

Figure 13: “The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher” (Beatrix’s copy), 1906. Photo taken by Victoria Grace Tucker.

According to the Norman Rockwell Museum, over 100 million copies of Potter’s books have been sold and they’ve been translated into 35 languages. According to the exhibition, Beatrix had to redraw the title page of one of her books to suit the translation process.

Figure 14: Early endpaper design, second version, first used in December 1903 (left) and redrawn for translation copy (right). Photos taken by Victoria Grace Tucker.

In 1905, Potter moved to the English Lake District, where she married William Heelis and began her conservation efforts. She was a founding member of the National Trust, and according to the exhibit, Potter’s efforts preserved an indigenous sheep breed and over 4,000 acres of land.

Figure 15: Potter’s cane and clogs and a photo of her with her dogs. Photo taken by Victoria Grace Tucker.

Beatrix Potter’s legacy is one of love for nature and children. The “Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature” exhibition shows how one woman changed so many lives. This exhibition’s next stop is the Morgan Library & Museum in New York.

Figure 16: Squirrel Nutkin. Photo taken by Victoria Grace Tucker.

Figure 17: Mouse with candle. Photo taken by Victoria Grace Tucker

Figure 18: Illustration from “Appley Dapply’s Nursey Rhymes.” Photo taken by Victoria Grace Tucker.

Figure 19: Drawing of water lilies, by Beatrix Potter, probably 1906, probably Esthwaite Water, Cumbria. Photo taken by Victoria Grace Tucker.