Rush Holder with Candle Socket

Art Historical Context

**Rush Holder with Candle Socket** by Wellington Blewett (c. 1937) captures a humble yet ingenious piece of early American folk craft—a rush holder adapted with a candle socket. These simple devices held rushlights, inexpensive wicks made from rushes dipped in animal fat, providing light in colonial homes before widespread candle use. Blewett's precise rendering in watercolor, graphite, and colored pencil on paper (24.2 x 29.4 cm) brings out the object's worn patina, wooden textures, and functional elegance, inviting viewers to appreciate everyday ingenuity. Created as part of the Index of American Design (IAD), a New Deal-era Federal Art Project (1935–1942), this work reflects a Depression-era effort to document and celebrate America's decorative arts heritage. Sponsored by the WPA, the IAD employed artists like Blewett to produce thousands of detailed plates of folk objects, preserving regional craftsmanship amid industrialization. Housed in the National Gallery of Art's collection, it underscores the cultural value of utilitarian items in shaping American identity. The mixed media technique—graphite for fine lines, watercolor and colored pencil for subtle hues—exemplifies the IAD's documentary realism, mimicking the artifact's materiality while making it accessible. This piece not only highlights pre-electric lighting traditions but also honors the anonymous makers whose handiwork defined colonial life.

About the Artist

Wellington Blewett · 1875–1962

**Wellington Blewett (1875–1962)** was a Canadian-born American artist renowned for his meticulous watercolor renderings of everyday American folk objects. Active primarily in the late 1930s, Blewett contributed significantly to the Index of American Design, a Federal Art Project under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) that sought to document the nation's vernacular artistic heritage through...