Quaker Doll
1938
Medium
watercolor, graphite, and pen and ink on paperboard
Dimensions
overall: 45.9 x 38 cm (18 1/16 x 14 15/16 in.) Original IAD Object: 16" high
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.15449
Art Historical Context
Behold the *Quaker Doll*, a rendered watercolor, graphite, and pen-and-ink depiction by Chicago artist Max Fernekes created in 1938. Measuring 45.9 x 38 cm, this captures a charming 16-inch folk doll dressed in the austere, gray attire emblematic of Quaker simplicity—high-necked gown, white cap, and bonnet—evoking 19th-century American domestic craft traditions. Fernekes contributed to the Index of American Design (IAD), a landmark Works Progress Administration (WPA) project from 1935 to 1942. During the Great Depression, over 200 artists documented thousands of everyday American objects, fro...