Shaker Stove/Built-in Closet

Art Historical Context

In the late 1930s, as part of the Federal Art Project under the Works Progress Administration (WPA), artist John W.elleher created this meticulous rendering of a Shaker stove and built closet. Titled *Shaker Stove/Built-inet* (c. 1938), the watercolor, graphite, and gou on paper measures 27.8 x 20.6 cm and captures the essence of Shaker craftsmanship from their communal settlements in America. The original object—a tall, narrow closet standing 68 inches high and 17 inches wide—exemplifies the Shakers' philosophy of simplicity, utility, and unadorned beauty. This artwork belongs to the Index of American Design, a WPA initiative that employed artists to document everyday American folk art and design through vibrant, detailed plates. Kelleher's technique blends precise graphite underdrawing for architectural accuracy with the luminous transparency of watercolor and the opacity of gouache to highlight textures like wood grain and metal stove elements. Shaker objects like this were ingeniously multifunctional, often integrating storage with heating in austere living spaces, reflecting the sect's values of celibacy, equality, and perfection in labor. Today, housed in the National Gallery of Art, this piece preserves a vanishing chapter of American material culture, inviting us to appreciate how functional design can achieve artistic elegance. It's a testament to the WPA's role in valuing vernacular arts during the Great Depression.

About the Artist

John W. Kelleher · 1855–present

John W. Kelleher was an American artist active from around 1935 to 1953, best known for his contributions to the Index of American Design, a Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Art Project that commissioned artists to create precise watercolor renderings of everyday American folk art, crafts, and decorative objects. Little is known about Kelleher's early life or formal training, as biograp...