Quilted Chest Protection

Art Historical Context

This watercolor, graphite, and pen-and-ink rendering on paperboard, created circa 1940 by Mary Fitzgerald, is part of the Index of American Design at the National Gallery of Art. The Index was a New Deal project of the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project, in which artists documented American folk art, crafts, and decorative objects to preserve the nation’s material heritage during the Great Depression. The work depicts a quilted chest protection whose original object measured 15 inches long by 10 inches wide. Fitzgerald’s mixed-media technique captured the texture of the quilting, the pattern of the stitching, and the object’s three-dimensional form with the exacting accuracy the Index required. Quilting has long been a distinctive American folk-art tradition that combined practical function—padding for protection or warmth—with decorative skill. These renderings serve as both historical records and works of art in their own right. They allow visitors to study objects that might otherwise have vanished and to appreciate the craftsmanship of both the original makers and the Depression-era artists who recorded them. The piece thus offers a quiet window into everyday American ingenuity and the cultural value placed on handmade textiles.