Jacket

Art Historical Context

Welcome to the National Gallery of, where Aurelia Arbo's *Jacket* (c. 1937) offers a vibrant glimpse into America's heritage. This delicate watercolor and graphite rendering on paper, measuring 36.6 x 32.8 cm, captures the essence of a garment with detail. Arbo, under the Federal Art Project, employed soft washes of watercolor to evoke fabric textures and subtle graphite lines for precise contours, creating a lifelike study that bridges artistry and documentation. Created as part of the Index of American Design—a WPA initiative during the Great Depression—this piece belongs to a vast archive of over 15,000 renderings that preserved everyday American crafts, folk art, and decorative objects. Launched in 1935, the Index celebrated the nation's cultural roots amid economic hardship, employing artists to document items at risk of being lost to time. Arbo's contribution highlights the humble beauty of clothing design, reflecting mid-20th-century tastes in pattern, form, and functionality. Today, *Jacket* stands as a testament to American ingenuity and the power of public art programs. It invites us to appreciate how ordinary items embody history, inviting closer inspection of the stitches, folds, and colors that tell stories of makers and wearers long past.

About the Artist

Aurelia Arbo · 1909–1993

Aurelia Josephine Coralie Arbo (1909–1993) was an American artist and educator renowned for her contributions to the Newcomb Pottery tradition, a cornerstone of the Arts and Crafts movement in early 20th-century Louisiana. Born on November 29, 1909, in New Orleans to piano tuner Henry Arthur Arbo and Henrietta Caroline Geier, she was one of nine children in a large family that nurtured her artisti...