r/w/l recommendation: "Pomological Watercolor Collection"

There’s something endlessly enchanting to me about botanical illustrations, which is why I was immediately drawn to this short video as part of this month’s focus on harvest time. The video highlights images from the USDA “Pomological Watercolor Collection,” an ambitious artistic and scientific effort launched in 1886 to document newly developed (and discovered) fruits. The project resulted in more than 7000 paintings.

The cultivation of fruit varieties became a big business in the late 19th century. Growers competed to develop the best tasting and most beautiful fruits. It was so competitive that some growers would even steal cultivars from rival nurseries. So this effort to document fruit was in part an effort to protect the innovations of growers. 

I loved seeing all these beautiful fruits, and was even more delighted to learn that it was women who painted the majority of the images. If you like this short video (or just love paintings of apples), I recommend following it up with this piece from Lady Science. 

Thanks for reading,

Erika

Managing Editor