The Artists Behind the Watercolours
The illustrators of the USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection, a third of them women
Between 1886 and 1942 the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Division of Pomology employed some sixty-five artists to paint specimens of fruit sent in from orchards across the country. Before colour photography, these watercolours were the official way to record exactly what a variety looked like. A remarkable number of the artists were women — unusual for federal scientific work of the era — and a few were extraordinarily prolific: Deborah Griscom Passmore alone painted roughly 1,500 of the collection's images, while Amanda Almira Newton and Royal Charles Steadman each contributed hundreds more.
Passmore, Deborah Griscom
1164 works here
1164 works here
Newton, Amanda Almira
845 works here
845 works here
Arnold, Mary Daisy
779 works here
779 works here
Steadman, Royal Charles b.
582 works here
582 works here
Heiges, Bertha
527 works here
527 works here
Schutt, Ellen Isham
442 works here
442 works here
Lower, Elsie E. b.
240 works here
240 works here
Shull, James Marion
202 works here
202 works here
Prestele, William Henry
85 works here
85 works here
Krieger, L.C.C. (Louis Charles Christopher)
63 works here
63 works here
Strange, M.
42 works here
42 works here
Thompson, Harriet L.
22 works here
22 works here
Müller, Frank
14 works here
14 works here
Van Deman, Henry G.
6 works here
6 works here
Swann, Eliza C.
3 works here
3 works here
Mayo, Katherine A.
2 works here
2 works here
Hopkins, Charles L.
2 works here
2 works here
Sedgwick, J.
1 works here
1 works here
Brewer, J.F.
1 works here
1 works here
Cowing, Roberta
1 works here
1 works here
Burn, W. L.
1 works here
1 works here