Betty Lamp
c. 1936
Medium
graphite on paperboard
Dimensions
overall: 28.4 x 22 cm (11 3/16 x 8 11/16 in.) Original IAD Object: 19" high; 7 " diameter
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.12348
Art Historical Context
In the 1930s, part of the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art, artists across America contributed to the *Index of American Design* (IAD), a effort to document the nation's folk art and everyday objects through precise, detailed renderings. Jack Staloff's graphite drawing * Lamp* (c. 1936) exemplifies this initiative. Rendered on paperboard measuring 28.4 x 22 cm, it captures a classic early American lighting device—19 inches high and 7 inches in diameter— used in colonial households. These "Betty lamps," named after a common Betty or Bettye who might have tended them, featured a simpl...
About the Artist
Jack Staloff
Jack Staloff was an American artist and designer active during the 1930s and 1940s, best known for his contributions to the Index of American Design, a New Deal-era Federal Art Project under the Works Progress Administration (WPA). This ambitious initiative commissioned artists across the United States to create precise watercolor and graphite renderings of everyday American crafts, tools, and dec...