Apples & People explores the astonishing story of the apple through forty-six Apple Stories. Connecting its diverse history to humanity and culture. Based upon a specially commissioned Apple World Map which traces the network of stories from the ancient world to the present day. This online programme and associated social media reveals just how significant and iconic this humble fruit has become.
Ever wondered why New York City is referred to as “The Big Apple”? A new article in the Journal of Apples tells the history.
It has been kindly written for Apples & People by two respected American etymologists, Professor Gerald Leonard Cohen from Missouri University of Science and Technology, and Barry Popik, historian and New York resident.
Isaac Oliver -An Unknown Girl, aged four 1590 © Victoria and Albert Museum
Imitation Apples Apples have been modelled for centuries – for education, aesthetic, and sharing.
Rob Janoff Designer of the iconic Apple Computer logo Courtesy of Rob Janoff Agency
Life with more than one Granny - Granny Smith and how her apple made an Australian family
Grafting: Giving Nature a Helping Hand
Henry G Van Deman - Antonovka 1886 U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection. Rare and Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705
Payne Limner - Alexander Spotswood Payne and His Brother John Robert Dandridge Payne, with Their Nurse 1790-91 © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, USA. Gift of Miss Dorothy Payne. Photo Katherine Wetzel.
Crispin van den Broeck - Two young men c1590 © The Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge
Alicia López packing Honeycrisp apples at Cowiche Growers Inc Photography Manuel Tavira Courtesy of Carlos López
Ornament from Puabi’s diadem of gold and lapis lazuli. With kind permission of Penn Museum, Philadelphia, USA ©
Underground Root Laboratory 2013 © NIAB EMR
Frederic Leighton - Garden of Hesperides (1892) © Courtesy National Museums Liverpool, Lady Lever Art Gallery
Billy Apple® - Cut 1964, offset lithograph on T.H. Saunders paper, edition of 25 Courtesy of The Mayor Gallery, London © Billy Apple ®
Pink Lady ® TV creative ‘Kalifa’ for Pink Lady ® Copyright © McCann 2020
Paul Cézanne - Still Life with Apples, circa 1878, oil on canvas. Copyright © The Provost and Fellows of King's College, Cambridge, UK
We would like you to help us celebrate Apples & People by posting a picture of yourself or a friend holding an apple in a meaningful way.
Together, we will create a new apple gallery on Instagram: #peopleholdingapples
Throughout time, the apple has been adopted as an artistic device to portray human emotion. We would like you to explore and share how you would choose to hold an apple in a way that expresses a feeling.
1) Take a photo or photos of someone or some people holding an apple or apples in their hand
2) Post on your Instagram Account (write something about the image if you wish)
3) Add the hashtag #peopleholdingapples to the post
4) Tag the post with @applesandpeople
Portrait of Billy Apple® 1965 photographed by Jerrold Schatzberg.
Courtesy of the Billy Apple® Archive.
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Inspiring Apples
Home, JournalHow students at world-renowned Central St Martins art and design college have been inspired to develop new work in response to stories featured on Apples & People.
Kashmiri Apples
Home, JournalKashmiri Apples – A Weapon of Resistance – they may have become the main embodiment of this restive territory’s economic and political identity.
Contemporary Herbarium of the Orchard and Fruits of the Press
Home, JournalArtist/Art Teacher Roselyne Corblin and Visual Artist/Artist-Botanist Pascal Levaillant describe how they have made a Herbarium
Billy Apple
Home, JournalIn London, on Thanksgiving Day 1962, New Zealand-born artist Barrie Bates changed his name to Billy Apple®, a name that forty five years later became a registered trademark.