Rocking Chair
1937
Medium
watercolor, colored pencil, graphite and some heightening on paperboard
Dimensions
overall: 35.5 x 24.2 cm (14 x 9 1/2 in.) Original IAD Object: none given
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.4492
Art Historical Context
In 1937, artist Robert Pohle contributed to the Index of American Design (IAD), a landmark WPA Federal Art Project that employed artists during the Great Depression to America's rich heritage of folk art, crafts, and design. "Rocking Chair," a rendering on paperboard, captures the simplicity of this quintessential American furniture form, evoking cozy evenings by the fireside and the ingenuity of early craftsmen. Pohle's masterful use of watercolor, colored pencil graphite, and subtle heightening brings the chair's contours, wood grain, and gentle curves to life on a modest 35.5 x 24.2 cm she...
About the Artist
Robert Pohle
Robert Pohle is an artist about whom the available historical record provides limited documentation. His dates and nationality have not been firmly established, and the circumstances of his training and career remain unclear from currently available sources. The works associated with his name suggest a practiced hand, but without reliable biographical anchors it is not possible to place him confid...