Accession No
6662.3
Brief Description
Folder of 29 paintings/drawings labelled "Beans," no. 3 of 35, by Dr W. A. R. Dillon Weston, English, 1930s
Origin
England; Cambridgeshire
Maker
Dillon Weston, W. A. R.
Class
natural history
Earliest Date
1932
Latest Date
1938
Inscription Date
Material
paper
Dimensions
365mm x 250mm
Special Collection
Dr W. A. R. Dillon Weston Collection
Provenance
Inscription
Many pages have typed notes; see Description Notes.
Description Notes
Folder of 29 paintings/drawings labelled "Beans," no. 3 of 35, by Dr W. A. R. Dillon Weston, English, 1930s
NOTE: all objects have been transferred into archive folders for conservation purposes; original folders were photographed (see Images) and are stored separately.
6662.3.a -- "SCLEROTINIA sp."
A watercolour painting of a diseased bean plant specimen. The typed notes describe the condition of the farm of origin and of the specimen. Dated 19 May 1933.
6662.3.b -- "SCLEROTINIA sp."
A watercolour painting of a diseased bean plant specimen. In pencil, "Sclerotinia sclerotiorum [illegible]" below the drawing.
6662.3.c -- "SCLEROTINIA sp."
A watercolour painting of a diseased bean plant specimen. In pencil, "Sclerotinia sclerotiorum [illegible]" below the drawing.
6662.3.d -- "SCLEROTINIA sp."
A watercolour painting of a diseased bean plant specimen. In pencil, "Beans [illegible] 2/6/33" below the drawing.
6662.3.e -- "SCLEROTINIA sp."
A watercolour painting of a diseased bean plant specimen. In pencil, "June 2nd Beans [illegible]" below the drawing.
6662.3.f -- "CHOCOLATE SPOT OF BEANS"
A watercolour painting of a diseased bean plant, with a description of the disease (fungal cause, prevalence in East Anglia, economic importance) and the specimen represented. Dated 1933.
6662.3.g --
A small, unevenly cut piece of paper (135 x 245mm) with a watercolour painting of an infected bean leaf specimen, and typed notes pasted on that describe the conditions of the farm of origin.
6662.3.h -- "CHOCOLATE SPOT OF BEANS"
A watercolour painting of a diseased bean plant, with a description of the farm of origin and the specimen represented. Dated 4 July 1933.
6662.3.i -- "CHOCOLATE SPOT"
A watercolour (pencil?) drawing of a bean leaf. In pencil in the bottom corner, "Beans Chocolate spot"
6662.3.j -- "CHOCOLATE SPOT"
A watercolour (pencil?) drawing of a bean leaf. In pencil in the bottom corner, "Beans Chocolate spot"
6662.3.k -- "BEAN CHOCOLATE SPOT"
A watercolour (pencil?) drawing of a bean leaf. In pencil in the bottom corner, "Beans Chocolate spot"
6662.3.l -- "CHOCOLATE SPOT"
A watercolour (pencil?) drawing of a bean leaf. In pencil in the bottom corner, "Beans Chocolate spot"
6662.3.m -- "Beans. CHOCOLATE SPOT ?"
A watercolour (pencil?) drawing of a bean stalk. Dated 21 June 1934. Notes that the purple lesions are caused by Botrytis.
6662.3.n --
Unannotated drawing of a bean fruit.
6662.3.o --
Unannotated drawing of a bean fruit.
6662.3.p --
Unannotated drawing of a bean fruit.
6662.3.q -- "FROST (?)"
Watercolour painting of the stalk of a bean plant; the title has been cut and pasted on.
6662.3.r -- "FROST"
Watercolour painting of the stalk of a bean plant.
6662.3.s --
Watercolour painting of a diseased bean plant. Pencil writing illegible.
6662.3.t --
Watercolour painting of a diseased bean plant. Pencil writing illegible.
6662.3.u -- "Runner Bean. Red Spider."
A watercolour painting of infected bean leaves. Notes that the attack is by the red spider, "tertranychus telarius." Dated 3 October 1934.
6662.3.v -- "The food supply of an embryo plant."
This page, consisting only of typed notes, was attached to the following five pages with a paperclip, now removed. It describes the stages of plant growth, using the bean as an example. The notes refer to three further drawings (VI, VII and VIII - of pea plants) in the series which are not in the folder.
6662.3.w -- "The Field Bean. Fig. I."
A watercolour painting of a young bean plant with a description of this stage of the life cycle.
6662.3.x -- "The Field Bean. Fig. II."
A watercolour painting of a young bean plant with a description of this stage of the life cycle.
6662.3.y -- "The Field Bean. Fig. III."
A watercolour painting of a young bean plant with a description of this stage of the life cycle.
6662.3.z -- "The Field Bean. Fig. IV"
A watercolour painting of a young bean plant with a description of this stage of the life cycle.
6662.3.aa -- "The Field Bean. Fig. V.:
Two watercolour painting of a young bean plant with a description of this stage of the life cycle. The paintings are labelled "Dressed" and "Undressed;" the second has mould growth on it.
6662.3.bb -- "Dwarf Beans. Halo Blight. Bacterium Medicaginis (Sack) E.F.Sm. var. phaseolicola (Bruk L) G.K.K.Link & Hall."
A watercolour painting of an infected bean plant covered with a sheet of wax paper.
6662.3.cc -- "DWARF BEAN Bacterium Medicaginis"
A watercolour painting of an infected bean plant covered with a sheet of wax paper.
References
Events
Description
Dr. W.A.R. Dillon Weston spent all of his professional life in Cambridge. After obtaining his degree in Natural Sciences at St. Catharine’s College, Dr. Dillon Weston gained employment as a mycologist (an expert in the study of fungi) at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. Ministry Pathologists at that time were stationed at universities, where teaching and supervision of students were included as part of their duties.
During the 1930’s, Dillon Weston produced nearly 1,000 watercolour paintings of plants suffering from a wide variety of afflictions: mostly various fungal infections, but also pest attacks, nutrient deficiencies, and bad farming practices. These drawings were produced in connection with his position at the Ministry, which he described as forming a “link between the farm and the research station.” Farmers would send samples of afflicted crops to the Ministry, and Dillon Weston would diagnose the problem and offer solutions. This work was an example of the emerging school of “New” or “Economic” Botany, in which economically important plant diseases were studied with an eye to increasing crop yields.
Typed notes accompanying the paintings suggest that many of them were depictions of samples received by Dillon Weston at the Ministry, though it is unclear why he made them. Like his glass fungi models, also held by the Whipple (Wh.5826), the paintings may have been a hobby undertaken during bouts of insomnia. Some of the paintings are demonstrative or didactic in nature, and Dillon Weston may have used them in his lectures at the university, which he endeavoured to make “as interesting as possible,” according to a 1952 profile in Varsity, the Cambridge student newspaper.
The paintings demonstrate a careful attention to detail and a desire for accurate representation, which sometimes led Dillon Weston to push up against the limits of flat, two-dimensional representation. For example, he used painted cotton stuffing underneath layers of paper to imitate spores bulging up underneath a scab on an apple tree (Wh.6662.28, Wh.6662.29), and splashes of blue watercolour paint to demonstrate how far fungal spores can be spread by raindrops (6662.10).
12/09/2018
Created by: Matthew Green on 12/09/2018
FM:47325
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