Sampler

Art Historical Context

This delicate watercolor and graphite rendering by Eva Wilson captures the intricate details of a traditional American sampler, an embroidered textile once created by young girls to practice needlework skills. Produced around 1936 as part of the Index of American Design, the work faithfully reproduces the original sampler’s patterns, stitches, and motifs on paper measuring roughly 18¾ by 19⅝ inches. Such documentation efforts preserved the visual record of everyday decorative arts that might otherwise have faded from view. The Index of American Design was a New Deal initiative under the Works...

About the Artist

Eva Wilson

Eva Wilson is an artist whose biographical details remain largely unrecorded. No confirmed dates of birth or death, geographic origin, or records of formal training have been identified in the historical literature, and her nationality is not definitively established. Her surviving works, held across various collections, indicate a sustained creative practice. The range and volume of pieces attri...