It is an odd thing that I am posting anything related to pomology. I rarely eat fruit, except for strawberries at this time of year. I don't think I have had an apple or banana over the last decade. Now that I think about it, my consumption of fruits is mainly in liquid form. Fruits are attractive, however, and that is perhaps one reason why they often appear in paintings. That gets me to our subject for today.
Just as I would have thought it unlikely that I would be writing about fruit, I would have thought it even less likely that I would recommend to you a collection found in the U.S. Department of Agriculture - a collection of watercolors of fruits and nuts. It is well worth a look. You will no longer have to rely on pinterest for pictures of pomegranates. Here is what you need.
The link is found here: U.S. Department of Agriculture - Pomological Watercolor Collection. Wikipedia provides a good description: Pomological Watercolor Collection.
A book based on the collection has just been published by Atelier Editions: An Illustrated Catalog of American Fruits & Nuts.... I learned about it from a review which, as you will see from the title, is ecstatic: "These U.S. Agriculture Department Paintings of Fruits and Nuts Are Actually Stunning," Jacqueline Landy, Washington Post, May 25, 2021.
"Published by Atelier Editions in Los Angeles, it has an orange cover with handsome black typography. It has a fascinating introduction, a good index and glossary; it even smells nice. But the best thing about it, undoubtedly, is the pictures. They’re pictures of fruit. And nuts. Made by hand. In watercolor. Hundreds of them have been selected from more than 7,500 paintings, drawings and lithographs from the Agriculture Department’s Pomological Watercolor Collection....And oh my goodness! They’re beautiful.... On a technical level, the pictures are virtuosic. What I especially like is that, despite the scientific approach, aspects of personal style sneak into each illustration. Sometimes the artist focuses exclusively on the shape and color of the fruit itself, which can produce striking results. For instance, two vertical rows of bright red Coletto plums by an unknown artist in 1888 have an intensely abstract aura."
For a good article that explains the importance of such botanical illustrations see: "How to Trademark a Fruit: To Protect the Fruits of Their Labor and Thwart “Plant Thieves,” Early American Growers Enlisted Artists," Daniel J. Kevles, Smithsonian Magazine, August 2011.
I happened to notice that the introduction to An Illustrated Catalog... is provided by Adam Leith Gollner, "the Canadian musician and author of The Fruit Hunters." According to the Wikipedia entry, Gollner played in the bands, We Are Molecules, Dessert and Hot Pickles.
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