"Dutch" Doll
c. 1937
Medium
watercolor, graphite, and gouache on paperboard
Dimensions
overall: 50.6 x 36.3 cm (19 15/16 x 14 5/16 in.) Original IAD Object: 8 1/2" high
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.15581
Art Historical Context
**"Dutch" Doll** by Beverly Chichester (c. 1937) captures the charming whimsy of an early American folk doll in exquisite detail. Rendered in watercolor, graphite, and gouache on paperboard (50.6 x 36.3 cm), this work depicts a diminutive 8 1/2-inch original object, likely inspired by Pennsylvania Dutch traditions where "Dutch" refers to German settlers' crafts. Chichester's precise rendering highlights the doll's carved wooden features, colorful attire, and handmade quality, evoking the everyday artistry of colonial America. Created as part of the *Index of American Design* (IAD), a Federal ...
About the Artist
Beverly Chichester
Beverly Chichester was an American artist active in the mid-1930s and early 1940s, whose contributions to the Index of American Design reveal an eye particularly drawn to the world of American toys, dolls, and childhood objects. Working in watercolor, gouache, colored pencil, and graphite on paperboard, Chichester produced a body of work distinguished by its delicacy of observation and its sympath...