Bell - From Swedish Church
c. 1936
Medium
watercolor, graphite, pen and ink on paper
Dimensions
overall: 28.4 x 22.4 cm (11 3/16 x 8 13/16 in.) Original IAD Object: 19 1/2" high; cross bar: 27" wide; bell: 17" diameter at bottom; 9: in diameter at top
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.8633
Art Historical Context
In the heart of the Index of American Design, a WPA-era project from the 1930s that celebrated everyday American craftsmanship, Wellington Blewett's *Bell - From Swedish Church* (c. 1936) captures the sturdy elegance of a folk bell from a Swedish immigrant community. Rendered in watercolor, graphite, pen, and ink on paper (28.4 x 22.4 cm), this meticulous drawing documents an original bell standing 19 1/2 inches high, with a 27-inch crossbar and a flared silhouette—17 inches wide at the base, tapering to 9 inches at the top. Blewett's precise lines and subtle washes evoke the bell's weathered ...
About the Artist
Wellington Blewett
**Wellington Blewett (1875–1962)** was a Canadian-born American artist renowned for his meticulous watercolor renderings of everyday American folk objects. Active primarily in the late 1930s, Blewett contributed significantly to the Index of American Design, a Federal Art Project under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) that sought to document the nation's vernacular artistic heritage through...