Eight Leg Table with Drawer

Art Historical Context

**Eight Leg Table with Drawer**, rendered by Ernest A. Towers, Jr. around 1936, captures the charm of an unusual American folk furniture piece through meticulous watercolor, colored pencil, and ink, graphite, heightening on paper (23.4 x 30.5 cm). This drawing depicts a table standing 28 inches high, featuring distinctive eight-legged base and integrated drawer—a playful yet functional design likely rooted in early American craftsmanship, evoking the ingenuity of vernacular woodworkers. Created as part of the *Index of American Design* (IAD), a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project from 1935 to 1942, the artwork reflects New Deal efforts to document and celebrate the nation's artistic heritage during the Great Depression. Artists like Towers produced over 18,000 precise renderings of folk art, crafts, and decorative objects, preserving cultural artifacts through vivid, technical illustrations that blend realism with subtle artistic flourish. The IAD's emphasis on heightening—a technique using white gouache for luminous highlights—brings the table's form to life, underscoring the movement's goal to honor everyday American design. Housed in the National Gallery of Art, this piece invites visitors to appreciate how such humble furnishings embodied regional creativity and resilience.

About the Artist

Ernest A. Towers, Jr.

Ernest A. Towers, Jr. was an American artist active during the late 1930s and early 1940s, best known for his meticulous contributions to the Index of American Design, a Federal Art Project under the Works Progress Administration (WPA). This ambitious initiative commissioned artists across the United States to create watercolor renderings of everyday American folk art, crafts, and decorative objec...