Scent Bottle

Art Historical Context

**Scent Bottle**, a captivating rendering by artist Paul Ward circa 1938, is a gem from the *Index of American Design*, monumental WPA-era project (1935–2) that employed artists to document America's rich heritage of folk, decorative, and popular arts. Created during the Great Depression, this initiative not only provided vital jobs for creatives like Ward but also preserved visual records of everyday objects, ensuring cultural treasures weren't lost to time. Housed in the National Gallery of Art's CG-W Department, this 28.9 x 23 cm sheet exemplifies the program's mission to celebrate American ingenuity. Ward masterfully employed watercolor for luminous color, graphite for subtle shading, and pen and ink for crisp outlines, capturing the scent bottle's delicate form with exquisite precision. These mixed-media techniques mimicked the object's textures and sheen, blending artistic flair with documentary accuracy—almost like a colorful blueprint of history. Though the original bottle's details remain elusive, Ward's work highlights the elegance of early American glassware, evoking scents of bygone eras. Today, this piece underscores the *Index*'s enduring legacy: over 15,000 renderings that bridge art and anthropology, inviting us to appreciate the beauty in humble designs. A delightful window into 1930s cultural preservation! (198 words)

About the Artist

Paul Ward · 1855–present

Paul Ward was an American artist who contributed to the Index of American Design during the New Deal era, creating detailed watercolor renderings of American decorative objects that are now held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. His documented works include Lamp and Camphene Lamp, both rendered in watercolor and graphite on paperboard and created between 1935 and...