Mary Daisy Arnold (c. 1873 – August 13, 1955)''Who was Who in American Art''
/ref>"Mary Daisy Arnold". ''The Washington Post'' (August 17, 1955), p. 18 was a botanical artist who worked for the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...

(USDA) for over thirty-five years, painting watercolors of a wide variety of fruits. She is one of the three most prolific artists whose work is now preserved in the USDA's Pomological Watercolor Collection.

Biography

Arnold studied art in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and began her long career with USDA in 1904, becoming part of a part of a select cadre of illustrators that included Deborah Griscom Passmore, Amanda Newton, Elsie Lower,

Royal Charles Steadman Royal Charles Steadman (July 23, 1875 – August 6, 1964) was a botanical illustrator and wax fruit modeler for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) who also developed a patented method of strengthening wax fruit with plaster on th ...

, and J. Marion Shull. Very little else is known about Arnold. Concerning her USDA career, this may be due partly to the fact that records of the National Personnel Record Center in St. Louis dating from before 1921 have been destroyed. The 1060 watercolors that Arnold painted for USDA date between 1908 and 1940. Arnold's subjects included many varieties of apples, strawberries, stone fruit, citrus, and other fruits like figs, papayas, and persimmons. She also did some ed work such as mounting and coloring

lantern slides The magic lantern, also known by its Latin name , is an early type of image projector that uses pictures—paintings, prints, or photographs—on transparent plates (usually made of glass), one or more lens (optics), lenses, and a light source. ...

. Arnold lived in the Washington, D.C., area. In addition to her USDA job, she painted landscapes in oil.

Gallery

References

External links

USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnold, Mary Daisy American botanical illustrators 1955 deaths 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women artists American women illustrators United States Department of Agriculture people 1870s births 20th-century American illustrators American watercolorists American women watercolorists