Dress

Art Historical Context

This exquisite watercolor rendering, titled *Dress* by Irene Lawson (1935/1942), captures the of mid-20th-century American fashion through delicate watercolor, graphite, pen and ink on paperboard. Measuring 48.8 x 37.5 cm, the artwork meticulously documents a woman's dress with precise measurements—such as a 34-inch bust, 26½-inch waist, and 110-inch skirt circumference—highlighting its full-skirted silhouette and tailored proportions ideal for the era's feminine styles. Created as part of the Index of American Design (IAD), a Federal Art Project under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) from 1935 to 1942, Lawson's piece preserves everyday American craftsmanship during the Great Depression. The IAD commissioned artists to produce vibrant, accurate illustrations of folk and decorative arts, ensuring cultural heritage endured. Here, mixed-media techniques blend soft watercolor hues for fabric texture with sharp graphite and ink lines for structural details, offering both artistic beauty and archival precision. Displayed in the National Gallery of Art's collection, this work invites visitors to appreciate how fashion reflected societal tastes, blending functionality with grace in pre-World War II America. It's a testament to the IAD's mission: celebrating the ingenuity of ordinary designs.

About the Artist

Irene Lawson · 1902–2001

Irene Lawson is an artist about whom the available biographical record is limited. No birth or death dates have been established, and her nationality and the details of her training are not documented in major reference sources. Her presence in museum collections indicates a working artist whose output was considered worthy of preservation, but without firmer biographical anchors — including info...