Bench

Art Historical Context

**Bench** by Robert W.R. Taylor (1940) is a meticulous rendering from the Index of American Design, landmark WPA Federal Art Project that employed artists during the Great Depression to document America's folk art and decorative traditions. Created in watercolor, colored pencil, graphite on paper (26.7 x 35.6 cm), this work captures the sturdy form and craftsmanship of a wooden bench, measuring originally 2'10 1/4" long, 2'3 1/2" high, and 1'1" wide, with arms spanning 1'3 3/4". Taylor's precise depiction preserves the bench's vernacular design, likely rooted in early American furniture-making. The Index, active from 1935 to 1942, produced over 15,000 such watercolor renderings to celebrate everyday objects as cultural heritage, bridging art history with national identity. Taylor's mixed-media technique—graphite for fine lines, watercolor for subtle tones, and colored pencil for texture—brings the bench's wood grain and joinery to life, highlighting functional beauty in humble forms. Today, housed in the National Gallery of Art's collection, this piece invites visitors to appreciate how 20th-century artists revived 19th-century crafts, underscoring America's resourceful design legacy amid economic hardship.

About the Artist

Robert W.R. Taylor · 1855–present

Robert W.R. Taylor was an American artist active in the mid-twentieth century who contributed significantly to the Index of American Design, the Works Progress Administration project that employed artists to document American folk art and decorative culture through exacting watercolor renderings. The National Gallery of Art, which received the Index collection in 1943, holds seventy-one works by T...