Stencilled Ballroom
c. 1936
Medium
watercolor and graphite on paperboard
Dimensions
overall: 37.9 x 68.9 cm (14 15/16 x 27 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
1943.8.15981
Art Historical Context
**Stencilled Ballroom** Ray Holden, created around 1936, captures the charm of early American interior decoration through delicate watercolor and graphite on paperboard. Measuring nearly 38 x 69 cm, this work depicts festive ballroom adorned with intricate stenciled patterns—a popular folk art technique in 19th-century American homes. Holden’s precise rendering highlights the rhythmic motifs on walls and ceilings, evoking the lively social spaces where communities gathered for dances and celebrations. As part of the *Index of American Design*, a groundbreaking WPA Federal Art Project from 193...
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...