Jug

Art Historical Context

This delicate watercolor and graphite rendering of a jug, created around 1938 by artists Anne Nemtzoff and Tarantino, captures the essence of everyday American craftsmanship. Measuring 45.4 x 38 cm, the artwork meticulously depicts an original jug standing 14 inches high, its form, texture, and subtle details through vibrant washes of color and precise graphite lines on paperboard. As part of the National Gallery of Art's collection, it exemplifies the Index of American Design (IAD), a Federal Art Project initiative from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Great Depression. The IAD employed hundreds of artists to document America's rich folk art and design heritage, producing over 15,000 watercolor renderings of objects like pottery, furniture, and tools. Nemtzoff and Tarantino's collaborative piece highlights the jug's utilitarian beauty—likely a ceramic or earthenware vessel rooted in colonial or regional traditions—preserving cultural artifacts that might otherwise fade from view. This medium allowed for luminous, accurate reproductions that balanced artistic flair with documentary precision. Today, this work underscores the IAD's legacy in celebrating ordinary objects as symbols of national identity, bridging art history with social history. Visitors can appreciate how such renderings not only safeguarded Depression-era creativity but also fostered pride in America's vernacular design.