Shaker Blanket Chest
c. 1936
Medium
watercolor and graphite on paper
Dimensions
overall: 27.4 x 35 cm (10 13/16 x 13 3/4 in.) Original IAD Object: 45" high; 38" wide; 17" deep
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.13583
Art Historical Context
**Shaker Blanket Chest *Ray Holden, c. 1936* Watercolor and graphite on paper 27.4 × 35 cm10 13/16 × 13 3/4 in.); original object: 45 in. high × 38 in. wide × 17 in. deep *Index of American Design, National Gallery of Art* Ray Holden's precise watercolor and graphite rendering captures the elegant simplicity of a Shaker blanket chest, a staple of 19th-century American furniture. Created around 1936, this artwork is part of the Index of American Design (IAD), a ambitious Works Progress Administration (WPA) project during the Great Depression. From 1935 to 1942, over 200 artists documente...
About the Artist
Ray Holden
Ray Holden is an artist whose name appears attached to a meaningful body of work in museum collections, suggesting a career of genuine commitment and output even though detailed biographical information — dates of birth and death, nationality, training — has not been established in the sources currently available. The works themselves remain the most reliable record of Holden's artistic engagement...