Andiron
c. 1938
Medium
watercolor and graphite on paperboard
Dimensions
overall: 30.2 x 22.2 cm (11 7/8 x 8 3/4 in.) Original IAD Object: 14 3/4" high; 7 1/2" wide; 13 1/4" deep
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.8230
Art Historical Context
In the late 1930s, as part of the Federal Art Project under the Works Progress Administration (WPA), Eugene Bartz created this precise watercolor and graphite rendering of an *andiron* for the *Index of American Design*. in 1935, the Index was a groundbreaking initiative during the Great Depression to document celebrate everyday American folk art and decorative objects through detailed, museum-quality illustrations. Bartz's work captures the functional yet ornamental metal stand used to support burning logs in colonial fireplaces, preserving a piece of domestic craftsmanship that might otherwi...