Stencilled Wall Decoration
c. 1936
Medium
watercolor and graphite on paper
Dimensions
overall: 35.7 x 28 cm (14 1/16 x 11 in.)
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.15957
Art Historical Context
**Stencilled Wall Decoration** by Ray Holden, created around 1936, is a captivating rendering from the *Index of American Design*, a landmark WPA Federal Art Project initiative during the Great Depression. This program employed artists to meticulously document everyday American folk art and decorative traditions, preserving cultural heritage amid economic hardship. Holden's work captures the charm of stencilled wall patterns—a popular 19th-century technique used to adorn homes affordably with motifs like flowers, fruits, and geometrics, mimicking pricier wallpapers. Rendered in watercolor and...
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...