Flat Iron Holder
c. 1938
Medium
graphite on paperboard
Dimensions
overall: 28.8 x 21.9 cm (11 5/16 x 8 5/8 in.) Original IAD Object: 6 1/8" long; 7/8" high
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.15776
Art Historical Context
Created around 1938 by artist Charles Garjian, *Flat Iron Holder* is a meticulous graphite drawing on paperboard, measuring 28.8 x 21.9 cm. This work renders a diminutive everyday object—a 6 1/8-inch-long, 7/8-inch-high stand designed to hold a traditional sad iron, the heavy, stove-heated tool used for ironing clothes before electric models became commonplace. Garjian's precise lines capture the holder's simple, functional form, likely crafted from metal in an era when such utilitarian items embodied American ingenuity and thrift. As part of the Index of American Design (IAD), a groundbreaki...
About the Artist
Charles Garjian
Charles Garjian is an artist whose biographical details are not well established in the major art historical sources. No confirmed dates, nationality, or documentation of his training and working period have been identified in available scholarship, making it difficult to place him with confidence within a particular tradition or movement. The works attributed to Garjian in museum collections sug...