Deadeye
Medium
watercolor, graphite, and colored pencil on paperboard
Dimensions
overall: 27.8 x 22.9 cm (10 15/16 x 9 in.)
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.9642
Art Historical Context
**Deadeye** by Lloyd Charles Lemcke, created in 1938, captures sturdy elegance of a classic nautical tool through watercolor, graphite, and colored on paperboard (27.8 x 22.9 cm). This rendering depicts a "deadeye," a wooden essential to 18th- and 19th-century sailing ship rigging. Its three-holed design allowed ropes to secure masts and sails, embodying the ingenuity of American maritime craftsmanship. As part of the *Index of American Design*, a New Deal-era Federal Art Project (1935–1942), Lemcke's work reflects a national effort to document and celebrate everyday American folk art and des...
About the Artist
Lloyd Charles Lemcke
Lloyd Charles Lemcke was an American artist active around 1935, best known for his contributions to the Index of American Design, a Federal Art Project initiative under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) that aimed to document the nation's folk crafts and vernacular objects through precise artistic renderings. Little is known about Lemcke's early life or formal training, as biographical detai...