Chair with Carved Grape Leaf Decoration and Gothic Top

Art Historical Context

Welcome to the National Gallery of, where we spotlight treasures from the Index of American Design. This watercolor and colored pencil rendering by Robert Stewart, created around 1937, meticulously captures a stately wooden chair adorned with intricate carved grape leaf decorations and distinctive Gothic top. Measuring nearly 62 x 37 cm, the drawing faithfully reproduces the original furniture piece—61¾ inches high, 22 inches, and 18½ deep—highlighting its elegant proportions and ornamental details. Part of the Federal Art Project under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Great Depression, the Index of American Design (1935–1942) commissioned artists like Stewart to document everyday American crafts and decorative arts. Using watercolor, colored pencil, graphite, and subtle heightening on paper, these renderings preserved regional folk art and historical objects through hyper-realistic techniques, blending artistic skill with scholarly precision. This chair exemplifies early American furniture design, blending Gothic Revival arches with naturalistic grape motifs symbolizing abundance and classical influences. Stewart's work not only safeguards this cultural artifact but invites us to appreciate the craftsmanship of America's past, bridging historical design with modern admiration. (198 words)

About the Artist

Robert Stewart · 1855–present

Robert Stewart was an American artist who worked during the New Deal era, contributing to the Index of American Design — one of the most ambitious cultural documentation projects in United States history. Sponsored by the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project from 1935 to 1942, the Index employed hundreds of artists across the country to create meticulous watercolor renderings of Ame...