Dress

Art Historical Context

This watercolor and graphite drawing of a dress by Virginia Berge, created between 1935 and 1942, forms part of the Index of American Design. This New Deal initiative of the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project employed artists during the Great Depression to document America’s decorative arts and crafts. The resulting collection created a detailed visual archive of objects spanning the colonial period to the early twentieth century. Berge’s rendering demonstrates the precision demanded by the Index. Watercolor captured accurate hues and textures, while graphite supplied fine construction details of historical garments. Such illustrations preserved the patterns, stitching, and styles of American dressmaking that might otherwise have faded from record. Beyond offering work to artists in hard times, the Index became a lasting resource for historians, designers, and the public. It fostered appreciation for everyday American material culture. Now in the National Gallery of Art, these works continue to illuminate the evolution of national design and the objects that shaped cultural identity.

About the Artist

Virginia Berge · 1855–present

Virginia Berge was an American artist active around 1935 whose surviving body of work consists of meticulously rendered watercolor and graphite illustrations of historic clothing and accessories. Her early life and formal training are not well documented. She is known exclusively through her participation in the Index of American Design, a Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration t...