Gridiron

Art Historical Context

**Gridiron** by Mildred Ford created around 1939, is a meticulous drawing on paperboard, measuring 27.9 x 46.4 cm. Housed in the National Gallery of Art's Index of American Design collection, work exemplifies the precision of Ford's draftsmanship in capturing everyday American artifacts with artistic reverence. Part of the Federal Art Project under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Great Depression, the Index of Design (1935–2) commissioned artists to document the nation's folk art, crafts, and decorative objects. Ford's rendering of the gridiron—a heavy iron cooking grate used over open fires in colonial hearths—preserves a utilitarian tool central to early American domestic life. These griddles, often hand-forged by blacksmiths, symbolize self-reliant pioneer ingenuity and the fusion of functionality with simple, enduring design. Ford's graphite technique highlights the gridiron's textured surfaces, rivets, and sturdy form, transforming a humble kitchen implement into a celebration of American craftsmanship. This artwork invites us to appreciate how ordinary objects embody cultural history, bridging the past with our modern gaze.

About the Artist

Mildred Ford · 1895–1988

Mildred Ford (1895–1988) was an American artist whose career is indelibly linked to the Index of American Design, a monumental Works Progress Administration (WPA) project launched in the 1930s to document the nation's rich heritage of decorative arts and folk objects. Through her precise renderings, Ford helped preserve intricate details of everyday artifacts—from toleware utensils to Pennsylvania...