Indian Pipe
c. 1912
Medium
watercolor on paperboard
Dimensions
sheet: 28.26 × 16.51 cm (11 1/8 × 6 1/2 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of William and Abigail Gerdts
Accession Number
2018.44.50
Art Historical Context
Charles E. Heil’s “Indian Pipe,” dated around 1912, is a modest yet refined watercolor on paperboard. Its compact size—just over 11 by 6½ inches—ourages intimate viewing and the work was conceived as a careful study rather than a large exhibition piece. Classified by the National Gallery of Art as a drawing, the piece nevertheless exploits watercolor’s distinctive transparency and luminosity on the smooth surface of paperboard. Executed in the early twentieth century, the work reflects the period’s continuing appreciation for closely observed natural subjects rendered with technical precision...