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Amanda Almira Newton
Amanda Almira Newton

Amanda Almira Newton

American, 1860-1943
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Amanda Almira Newton was a botanical illustrator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) who specialized in watercolors of fruit. Her work is now preserved in the USDA's Pomological Watercolor Collection, and she is the second-most prolific contributor to that archive of 7600 paintings, with her work representing roughly one-sixth of the total.

Amanda Almira Newton was born around 1860. She was the granddaughter of Isaac Newton, the first commissioner of the USDA, who died when she was a child; later in life, her colleague at the USDA, Royal Charles Steadman, would paint a portrait of her grandfather for her.

Newton worked for the USDA from 1896 to 1928. This was a time when the major fruit-producing regions in the United States were just beginning to emerge, as farmers worked with the USDA to establish orchards for expanding markets. Photography was not yet in widespread use as a documentary medium, so the government relied on artists like Newton to produce technically accurate drawings for its publications. Newton was one of more than 50 skilled botanical illustrators hired in this early period—among whom were Elsie Lower, Ellen Isham Schutt, Royal Charles Steadman, and Deborah Griscom Passmore—and she was one of the most productive, turning out more than 1200 finished watercolors for the USDA.

Newton's artwork for the USDA covered a wide range of fruit and nuts, principally apples, of which there are many hundreds of examples. There are also paintings of strawberries, plums, citrus, persimmons, avocados, and cherries, as well as fruits that are still not commonly grown in the continental United States such as loquat and baobab. Most of her watercolors show a whole and a half fruit in full color; a few (such as the strawberry and cherry paintings) show foliage as well. Her style is precise and detailed, combining vigorous lines with subtle color modulations. Newton signed her work 'A.A. Newton'.

In addition, beginning in 1896, Newton made wax models of some 300 specimens of fruits being grown or tested in the United States. She inaugurated production of these wax models for the USDA and later showed some of them at the Tennessee Centennial Exposition and the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition. For the latter exposition, she created some models showing how environmental conditions, cultivation practices, and storage conditions affect the fruit's condition and keeping qualities.

Newton's original paintings are now in the USDA National Agricultural Library's Pomological Watercolor Collection.

229 items

Show 30 50 70
Prunus avium: Roditelsky

Prunus avium: Roditelsky (1911)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Prunus avium: Rockport

Prunus avium: Rockport (1913)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Prunus avium: May Duke

Prunus avium: May Duke (1914)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Prunus avium: Knight Early Red

Prunus avium: Knight Early Red (1912)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Prunus avium: Kirkland

Prunus avium: Kirkland (1911)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Mangifera indica: White Alphonse

Mangifera indica: White Alphonse (1914)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Persea

Persea (1916)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Persea: Avocado

Persea: Avocado (1906)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Prunus avium: Suda

Prunus avium: Suda (1915)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Persea: Ultimate

Persea: Ultimate (1916)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Persea: Trapp

Persea: Trapp (1908)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Persea: Trapp

Persea: Trapp (1916)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Persea: Spinks

Persea: Spinks (1917)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Persea: Sharpless

Persea: Sharpless (1917)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Persea: Senor

Persea: Senor (1916)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Persea: Early

Persea: Early (1911)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Persea: Blackman

Persea: Blackman (1910)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Mangifera indica: Totafari

Mangifera indica: Totafari (1908)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Mangifera indica: Sandersha

Mangifera indica: Sandersha (1908)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Mangifera indica: Sandersha

Mangifera indica: Sandersha (1906)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Mangifera indica: Sandersha

Mangifera indica: Sandersha (1906)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Mangifera indica: Peters No

Mangifera indica: Peters No (1909)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Mangifera indica: Cambodiana

Mangifera indica: Cambodiana (1908)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Mangifera indica: Amiri

Mangifera indica: Amiri (1909)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Persea: Purple Wester

Persea: Purple Wester (1908)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Prunus avium: Centennial

Prunus avium: Centennial (1915)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Mangifera indica: No

Mangifera indica: No (1907)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Fragaria: Superb

Fragaria: Superb (1911)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Fragaria: Stephens Late Champion

Fragaria: Stephens Late Champion (1909)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
Fragaria: Saunders

Fragaria: Saunders (1912)

Amanda Almira Newton (American, 1860-1943)
Botanical
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