The Apple Cider Press

It was hard to miss Apples, the large ceramic installation in the sculpture garden of the de Young Museum in San Francisco.

But there’s another apple-related statue just outside of the de Young, which is in Golden Gate park.

The Apple Cider Press (Bronze, ca. 1994) Thomas Shields Clarke

This bronze work was created for the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894.

It shows a dramatic muscular figure working the press while a child kneels to drink.

Apples in bronze.

Apparently a lot of people mistake this for a tribute to the Golden State’s wine industry. I did too, until I spotted the apples.

Click any photo for a closer look.

The name of the work is The Apple Cider Press, by Thomas Sheilds Clarke. By one account it was originally a drinking fountain with a metal cup on a chain.

The sculpture stands today in its original location in Golden Gate Park.

There’s more information, and many more photos, online.