Hand Bottle Corker

Art Historical Context

**Hand Bottle Corker** Ray Price (c. 1940) captures the humble ingenuity of American craftsmanship in a precise watercolor, graphite, and pencil rendering on paper (44.7 x 36.9 cm). This-media work belongs to the Index of American Design, a Art Project under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) from 1935 to 1942. During the Great Depression, artists like documented everyday objects, folk art, and tools to celebrate the nation's cultural heritage and skilled labor. The Index emphasized accurate, detailed depictions to preserve vanishing traditions, and Price's piece exemplifies this with its meticulous lines and vibrant hues that highlight the hand bottle corker's functional form—likely a wooden-handled device for sealing homemade preserves or beverages. Such tools reflected rural self-sufficiency and the DIY spirit of mid-20th-century America. Displayed in the National Gallery of Art's CG-W department, this artwork underscores the artistic value of utilitarian design, bridging fine art and everyday life. It invites visitors to appreciate how ordinary inventions embody cultural resilience and creativity.

About the Artist

Ray Price · 1855–present

Ray Price was an American artist active around 1935, renowned for his meticulous watercolor renderings of everyday American objects and crafts. His oeuvre, comprising 88 works held in the National Gallery of Art collection, captures the functional beauty of vernacular items from the late 1930s through the late 1940s. Little is known about Price's early life or formal training, as biographical deta...