Plane

Art Historical Context

**Plane** by Lloyd Charlescke (1937) is meticulous rendering of a woodworking hand plane, created as part of the *Index of American Design*. watercolor, graphite, and colored pencil work on paperboard (28.1 x 35.6 cm) vividly documents an everyday tool measuring 9 3/4 inches long, 2 3/4 inches wide, and 4 3/4 inches high. Housed in the National Gallery Art's collection, it exemplifies the project's goal to celebrate American craftsmanship through detailed, colorful illustrations. Commissioned under the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project during the Great Depression (1935–1942), the Index employed hundreds of artists like Lemcke to preserve vanishing examples of folk art, decorative objects, and utilitarian designs. By capturing the plane's ergonomic form, wooden body, and metal blade with precise shading and vibrant hues, Lemcke highlights the ingenuity of early American woodworkers, evoking a time when hand tools were essential to building homes, furniture, and ships. This artwork's mixed-media technique—graphite for fine lines, watercolor for subtle tones, and colored pencil for highlights—brings the object's textures to life, making the ordinary extraordinary. It reminds us of America's rich tradition of functional design, bridging art and industry in a single, striking sheet.

About the Artist

Lloyd Charles Lemcke · 1855–present

Lloyd Charles Lemcke was an American artist active around 1935, best known for his contributions to the Index of American Design, a Federal Art Project initiative under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) that aimed to document the nation's folk crafts and vernacular objects through precise artistic renderings. Little is known about Lemcke's early life or formal training, as biographical detai...