Dough Mixer

Art Historical Context

**Dough Mixer** by Roger Deats, created around 1940, captures humble beauty of an everyday American tool through watercolor, graphite, and colored pencil on paperboard. 35.9 x 45.9 cm, this precise rendering belongs to the National Gallery of's Index of American Design (Department CG-W), a treasure trove of Depression-era documentation. As part of the Federal Art Project under the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Index of American Design (5–1942) artists like Deats to meticulously record folk crafts, antiques, and utilitarian objects, America's diverse cultural heritage amid economic hardship. Deats' work highlights a dough mixer—a practical device for bread-making—showcasing its sturdy form, wooden components, and mechanical ingenuity, rendered with fine graphite lines for detail, watercolors for subtle hues, and colored pencils for vibrant accents. This piece underscores the artistic value in ordinary tools, preserving snapshots of 19th- and early 20th-century American life. Visitors will appreciate how Deats' hybrid technique brings texture and functionality to life, inviting reflection on the craftsmanship that sustained daily rituals in homes across the nation.