Braided Rawhide Bottom Chair
c. 1940
Medium
watercolor, colored pencil, pen and ink, and graphite on paperboard
Dimensions
overall: 34.9 x 24.2 cm (13 3/4 x 9 1/2 in.) Original IAD Object: 34"high; 19 1/2"wide; 13 1/2"deep.
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.4429
Art Historical Context
This delicate rendering of a Braided Rawhide Bottom Chair belongs to the Index of American Design, a Depression-era project that employed artists to document historic American decorative arts for posterity. Created around 1940 by Dorothy Johnson, the drawing captures a sturdy vernacular chair whose woven rawhide seat reflects the practical ingenuity of frontier and ranch furniture traditions, where durable, locally available materials like untanned hide were prized for their strength and flexibility. Johnson’s careful technique combines watercolor, colored pencil, pen and ink, and graphite on...