Pie Plate and Cup Plate

Art Historical Context

This watercolor, graphite, and gouache rendering by Cora Parker, created around 1938, belongs to the Index of American Design at the National Gallery of Art. The Index was a New Deal-era project that employed artists to create precise visual records of American decorative arts, crafts, and everyday objects, preserving the nation’s material heritage during the Great Depression. Parker’s illustration focuses on two humble yet characteristic household items: a pie plate, essential for baking, and a cup plate, a small dish once used to rest teacups while tea cooled in saucers. Her careful combination of media captures the objects’ forms, colors, and textures with documentary accuracy, turning functional ware into a study of American design. These Index works highlight the artistry in ordinary domestic objects and the cultural history they embody. Parker’s contribution, like others in the collection, offers viewers a tangible connection to the ingenuity and daily life of earlier American generations.

About the Artist

Cora Parker · 1855–present

Cora Parker (1859–1944) was an American painter and educator born in Kentucky. She studied at the Cincinnati Art School and the Académie Julian in Paris, receiving tutelage from William Merritt Chase. This training shaped her painterly technique of focused brushstrokes that created softened, impressionistic effects. Parker taught oil painting at the University of Kansas in Lawrence from 1887 to 1...