Dress
1935/1942
Medium
watercolor, graphite, and pen and ink on paperboard
Dimensions
overall: 48.8 x 37.5 cm (19 3/16 x 14 3/4 in.) Original IAD Object: bust: 34"; neck: 15"; waist: 26 1/2"; shoulder seams: 5" arm hole: 17 1/2"; sleeve inside seam: 14 1/2"; outside seam: 20"; front: neck to bottom of skirt: 57"; back from neck to bottom of skirt: 68" long; circumfrence of skirt: 110"
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.3019
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) ...
About the Artist
Irene Lawson
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...