Carrier

Art Historical Context

**Carrier** by Wilbur M. Rice, created around 1938, is a delicate watercolor and graphite rendering on paper, measuring 34.2 x 24 cm. This intimate-scale work captures the essence of everyday American folk object—a sturdy carrier, originally 30 inches high with 18¼-inch width featuring a 1½-inch canvas and an 11¾ crotched stick handle.'s precise graphite underdrawing with vibrant watercolors highlights the object's woven texture and functional form, evoking the craftsmanship of rural American life. As part of the *Index of American Design*IAD), a Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) from 1935 to 1942, this piece belongs to a monumental effort to document the nation's folk art and design heritage during the Great Depression. Artists like Rice produced over 15,000 such renderings to preserve vanishing traditions, blending artistic skill with ethnographic accuracy. Housed in the National Gallery of Art's CG-W department, it celebrates the ingenuity of anonymous makers who fashioned practical carriers for carrying goods, babies, or laundry. Rice's technique exemplifies the IAD's mission: not mere copies, but interpretive artworks that breathe new life into utilitarian objects. This "Carrier" invites visitors to appreciate how simple materials—likely wood, fabric, and twine—reflected cultural resilience and regional aesthetics, offering a window into America's diverse material past.

About the Artist

Wilbur M Rice · 1909–1974

**Wilbur M. Rice (1909–1974)** was an American artist best known for his meticulous contributions to the Index of American Design, a Federal Art Project under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Great Depression. Active primarily between 1935 and 1942, Rice produced detailed watercolor, gouache, and graphite renderings of everyday American folk objects, tools, toys, and crafts. Thes...