Shaker Scales
c. 1938
Medium
watercolor, graphite, and gouache on paperboard
Dimensions
overall: 41.7 x 32.8 cm (16 7/16 x 12 15/16 in.)
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.13686
Art Historical Context
"Shaker Scales," created around 1938 by artist George V. Vezolles, is a meticulous rendering in watercolor, graphite, and gouache on paperboard, measuring 41.7 x 32.8 cm. Part of the prestigious Index of American Design—a Federal Art Project under the Works Progress Administration (WPA)—this work captures the essence of Shaker craftsmanship from America's 19th-century religious communities. The Shakers, known for their ascetic lifestyle and belief in perfection through simplicity, produced utilitarian objects like these scales, which balanced form and function with elegant minimalism. Vezolle...
About the Artist
George V. Vezolles
George Victor Vezolles Jr. (1885–1956) was an American artist best known for his meticulous contributions to the Index of American Design, a Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project from 1936 to 1942 aimed at documenting the nation's folk and decorative arts. Born in Kentucky around 1886, Vezolles produced over 200 precise renderings for the project, with more than 40 now housed in the Na...