Hacking Axe
c. 1938
Medium
watercolor and pen and ink on paper
Dimensions
overall: 30.2 x 22 cm (11 7/8 x 8 11/16 in.) Original IAD Object: 10 1/8" long; 3 1/8" wide; 1 1/8" wide
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.8335
Art Historical Context
**Hacking Axe** *Fred Hassebrock, c. 1938* Watercolor and pen and ink paper, 30.2 × 22 cm (11⅞ × 8⅝ in.) *Index of American Design, National Gallery of Art* Created by artist Fred Hassebrock around 1938, *Hacking Axe* is meticulous rendering from the Index of American (IAD), a landmark WPA Federal Art Project initiative during the Great Depression. program employed artists to document everyday American folk art, crafts, and utilitarian objects through precise watercolor illustrations, preserving cultural heritage amid economic hardship. Hassebrock's depiction captures the rugged form of...
About the Artist
Fred Hassebrock
Fred Hassebrock is an artist for whom biographical documentation is very limited. No birth or death dates have been established, and his nationality and training are not recorded in major reference sources. His name does not appear prominently in standard art-historical surveys, and the specifics of his career — the schools he attended, the teachers who influenced him, the movements with which he...