Infant's Bib

Art Historical Context

This watercolor and graphite drawing an infant’s bib was created by Virginia Berge between 1935 and1942 as part of Index of American Design. The modest-sized work on paper belongs to a vast federal project that commissioned artists to record historic American decorative arts and folk objects with exceptional accuracy and beauty. Berge used transparent watercolor washes for color and graphite for fine linear detail, a combination favored by Index artists because it produced both luminous fidelity and precise documentation. The subject itself—an everyday child’s garment—illustrates the project’s democratic spirit: even humble domestic textiles were treated as worthy of careful study and preservation. Produced under the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration, the Index employed hundreds of artists during the Great Depression while creating an enduring visual archive of American material culture. Berge’s rendering therefore serves a dual purpose: it is both a skilled work of art and a historical record that lets today’s viewers appreciate the craftsmanship and care once invested in even the smallest items of family life.

About the Artist

Virginia Berge · 1855–present

Virginia Berge was an American artist active around 1935 whose surviving body of work consists of meticulously rendered watercolor and graphite illustrations of historic clothing and accessories. Her early life and formal training are not well documented. She is known exclusively through her participation in the Index of American Design, a Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration t...