Butter Mold
c. 1939
Medium
watercolor and graphite on paper
Dimensions
overall: 30.5 x 23.5 cm (12 x 9 1/4 in.)
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.16883
Art Historical Context
**Butter Mold**, a delicate watercolor and graphite rendering by Frances Lichten circa 1939, captures humble elegance of an everyday American folk art object. Created as part of the Index of American Design—a Federal Project under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Great Depression—this artwork documents utilitarian tools that embodied regional craftsmanship. Lichten, a skilled illustrator for the Index, meticulously depicted the butter mold's carved wooden form, highlighting its role in 19th-century farm life where homemakers pressed fresh butter into decorative shapes for mar...
About the Artist
Frances Lichten
Frances Lichten was born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, in 1889. At fourteen she enrolled in the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art, where she studied design and interior decoration, while also pursuing landscape painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. After graduating she worked as a commercial artist for nearly a decade, building the technical foundation that would later serve...