Ginger Box Tin
c. 1938
Medium
watercolor, pen and ink, graphite on paperboard
Dimensions
overall: 50.8 x 38.1 cm (20 x 15 in.) Original IAD Object: 2 3/4" high; 9 1/2" long; 3 3/4" wide
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.8865
Art Historical Context
**Ginger Box Tin***J. Howard Iams, c. 1938* Watercolor, pen and ink, graphite onboard, 50.8 × 38.1 cm (20 × 15 in.) *Index of American Design, National Gallery of Art* Created by artist J. Howard Iams around 1938, *Ginger Box Tin* a meticulous rendering of a humble 19th-century American tin container, originally measuring 2 3/4 inches high, 9 1/2 inches long, 3 3/4 inches wide. This detailed depiction captures the box's functional elegance—likely used to store ginger spice in households or shops—highlighting its embossed designs and practical form. Iams's work preserves an everyday object...
About the Artist
J. Howard Iams
John Howard Iams (1897–1964) was an American artist and self-described artist-historian whose passion for the regional past of southwestern Pennsylvania shaped one of the most distinctive careers to emerge from the Federal Art Project era. Born in Amwell Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania, Iams grew up in the North Ten Mile region near the border of Greene County, a landscape steeped in col...