Lamp Chimney
1935/1942
Medium
watercolor and graphite on paperboard
Dimensions
overall: 30.2 x 23.2 cm (11 7/8 x 9 1/8 in.)
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.12287
Art Historical Context
John Tarantino's *Lamp Chimney* (5/1942), a delicate watercolor and graphite rendering on paperboard, captures elegant simplicity of an everyday American household object. Measuring 30.2 x 23.2 cm, this precise study belongs to the Index of American Design, a WPA-era project that employed artists during the Great Depression to document the nation's folk art, crafts, and design. Tarantino's work exemplifies the index's mission to celebrate utilitarian beauty in objects like lamp chimneys—fragile glass shades that protected flames in oil lamps, essential to 19th-century homes before widespread e...
About the Artist
John Tarantino
John Tarantino was an American artist active from around 1935 to 1953, best known for his meticulous contributions to the Index of American Design, a Federal Art Project under the Works Progress Administration (WPA). This ambitious initiative commissioned artists across the United States to create precise renderings of everyday folk art objects, preserving the nation's vernacular design heritage a...