Shaker Stove
c. 1941
Medium
watercolor and pen and ink on paper
Dimensions
overall: 36.9 x 28.3 cm (14 1/2 x 11 1/8 in.)
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.17144
Art Historical Context
**Shaker Stove** *Lon Cronk, c. 1941* Watercolor and pen and ink on paper, 36.9 × 28.3 cm *Index of American Design, National Gallery of Art* by artist Lon Cronk around 1941, *Shaker Stove* is a meticulous rendering from the Index of American Design, a landmark WPA Federal Art Project of the 1930s and 1940s. During the Great Depression, this initiative employed artists to document America's folk art, crafts, and everyday objects through precise watercolor studies. These works celebrated the nation's cultural heritage, preserving designs at risk of being lost to time and industrializati...
About the Artist
Lon Cronk
Lon Cronk remains one of the more elusive figures in the broader history of art, with biographical records offering little concrete detail about his life, training, or national background. The limited documentation surrounding his career makes it difficult to situate him within a specific movement or tradition, though works attributed to him suggest a practitioner of some technical competence. Wh...