Erich Nelson

Erich Nelson (born 14 April 1897 in Berlin, Germany; died 22 March 1980 in Montreux, Switzerland) was a German artist, scientific illustrator, and botanist. He became well-known for his precise and aesthetic aquarelles and illustrations of European orchids, which total more than 2,000. His botanical and mycological author citation is: „E.Nelson“. Erich Nelson was born 1897 in Berlin, Germany, the son of the painter Ernst Nelson and his wife Hedwig Fajans. As a child, he spent a great deal of time in the Berlin Zoological Garden. From 1915 to 1918 he served in the armed forces as a sanitarian. After the First World War he completed his training as an artist in Munich and specialized on landscape paintings and illustrations of the natural world. On 1 April 1923 he married Gerda Kubierschky, daughter of the renowned artist Erich Kubierschky who supported Nelson during his apprenticeship. On his travels to Italy in 1928 Nelson encountered orchids for the first time, and these plants inspired all his future artistic and scientific work. Consequently, he also dedicated himself to studying botany, under Professor K. von Göpel and Professor F. von Wettstein in Munich. In 1931 he published his first scientific book “Die Orchideen Deutschlands und angrenzender Gebiete” (The Orchids of Germany and Neighbouring Countries). In 1933 Erich Nelson had to leave Germany with his wife Gerda because they were Jewish. After a brief stay in South Tyrol, Italy, he found a home in Chernex-Sur-Montreux in Switzerland. During his escape his friend Professor Walter Rytz from Bern, Switzerland, supported him. After numerous journeys to the Mediterranean region, tirelessly drawing, and intensively studying orchids including at the Geobotanical Institute Rübel, in Zürich, he published four books between 1954 and 1976. First was “Gesetzmässigkeiten der Gestaltwandlung im Blütenbereich.