Cupboard
c. 1938
Medium
watercolor, colored pencil, and graphite on paperboard
Dimensions
overall: 45.8 x 35.9 cm (18 1/16 x 14 1/8 in.) Original IAD Object: none given
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.4935
Art Historical Context
In the late 1930s, artist Charles Henning captured the elegant simplicity of an American cupboard in this meticulous rendering, created around 1938. Using watercolor, colored pencil, and graphite on paperboard (measuring 45.8 x 35.9 cm), Henning's work exemplifies the precision of mixed-media techniques that allowed for vibrant colors, fine lines, and subtle shading. These methods brought historical objects to life on paper, preserving details like wood grain and joinery that might otherwise fade from view. This artwork is a gem from the Index of American Design, a groundbreaking WPA Federal ...
About the Artist
Charles Henning
Charles Henning remains one of the more elusive figures in the historical record, and the details of his life and training have not been firmly established by scholars. The works attributed to him suggest a practitioner with some formal grounding in draftsmanship and composition, yet the circumstances of his education and the masters or institutions that shaped him are not currently documented. W...