Finger Bowl
1935/1942
Medium
watercolor, gouache, and pen and ink on paper
Dimensions
overall: 30.5 x 22.1 cm (12 x 8 11/16 in.)
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.17685
Art Historical Context
John Tarantino's *Finger Bowl* (193/1942) is a meticulous rendering from the Index of American Design, a landmark WPA Federal Art Project initiative during the Great Depression. in 1935 and concluding around 1942, the Index employed artists across the U.S. to document everyday American folk art, crafts, and decorative through precise, colorful drawings. Tarantino's work captures a delicate finger bowl—likely a glass or ceramic vessel used for rinsing fingers at the dining table—preserving its form and subtle ornamentation for posterity. Rendered in watercolor, gouache, and pen and ink on pape...
About the Artist
John Tarantino
John Tarantino was an American artist active from around 1935 to 1953, 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 precise renderings of everyday folk art objects, preserving the nation's vernacular design heritage a...