Artemas Ward Botanicals
Banana and Coconut Palm Trees, c. 1923

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Banana Palm Tree, No. 3017, Plate 22 Coconut Palm Tree, No 3017, Plate 10
Ward Banana Tree Framed
Ward Coconut Tree Framed
Ward Frame Detail
Artemas Ward (1848-1925) (editor)
Banana Palm Tree, No. 3017, Plate 22
Coconut Palm Tree, No 3017, Plate 10
Artemas Ward, New York: c. 1923
Watercolor and gouache on illustration board
Signed verso "Artemas Ward" and numbered in ink
Blindstamped lower right: J.L. Weston, N.Y.
14 x 9.5 inches each, overall
12.75 x 8.5 inches each, image
17.5 x 13.25 inches each, framed
Sold, please inquire as to the availability of similar items.

Original watercolor and gouache paintings of a banana tree and a coconut palm, probably created to illustrate Encyclopedia of Food, a lavishly illustrated book about the foods of the world that became a standard reference work. The book was subtitled "The Stories of the Foods By Which We Live. How and Where They Grow and are Marketed. Their Comparative Values and How Best to Use and Enjoy Them." In addition to showing the trees in their habitat, their fruits are shown in inset boxes.

Artemas (also spelled Artemus) Ward was a successful businessman, publisher and philanthropist who made his career in the grocery business. Born and raised in New York City, he was descended from an American Revolutionary War general, for whom he was named. In 1874, Ward moved to Philadelphia, where he founded and edited the Philadelphia Grocer, a respected grocery trade publication. He was subsequently hired by Enoch Morgan Sons' Company as advertising manager of "Sapolio," which thanks to his clever marketing became a household word. Advancing to the position of general manager of the company, he expanded it into the manufacture of chocolate and chewing-gum, and supplied the newsstands and vending machines for the New York City subways. His other ventures included ownership of the King Motor Car Company of Detroit, a 3,000-acre dairy farm in New York and a 1,000-acre apple orchard in Virginia. He retired from Enoch Morgan in 1910, and went on to publish a biography of his forebear, General Artemas Ward, in 1921 and the Encyclopedia of Food in 1923. Ward left an estate of several million dollars to Harvard University. At the end of his life he lived at 6 East 78th Street in New York City.

The artist for these paintings may have been James Louis Weston (b. 1864), an American artist specializing in landscapes and still lifes.

References:

"Artemus Ward." Robert Kline's Genealogy Page. http://www3.bc.sympatico.ca/robertkline/a-ward.html (19 June 2002).

The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Vol. 20, 1929.

"James Louis Weston." Askart.com. http://www.askart.com/theartist.asp?id=102413 (19 June 2002).