Sugar Bowl

Art Historical Context

Behold the delicate rendering of a *Sugar Bowl* by John Tarantino, created around 1936 as part of the Index of American Design. This WPA Federal Art Project, launched during the Great Depression, commissioned artists across the U.S. to document everyday American objects—from folk art to decorative crafts—preserving the nation's cultural heritage through precise, colorful illustrations. Tarantino's contribution captures the humble elegance of a sugar bowl, likely an artifact of early American craftsmanship, highlighting the ingenuity of colonial or early republican domestic wares. Crafted on paper measuring 30.2 x 22.3 cm, the work masterfully blends watercolor, graphite, colored pencil, and gouache. These mixed media allow for luminous color washes, fine graphite lines for intricate details like facets or handles, and gouache for opaque highlights that mimic the bowl's glossy surface. Such techniques reflect the Index's goal of hyper-realistic accuracy, turning functional objects into celebrated designs akin to fine art studies. Housed in the National Gallery of Art's Index of American Design collection, this piece underscores a pivotal moment in American art history: using New Deal-era creativity to celebrate vernacular beauty amid economic hardship. Visitors are invited to appreciate how Tarantino elevates the ordinary, reminding us of the artistry in our shared past.

About the Artist

John Tarantino · 1855–present

John Tarantino was an American artist active from around 1935 to 1953, best known for his meticulous contributions to the Index of American Design, a Federal Art Project under the Works Progress Administration (WPA). This ambitious initiative commissioned artists across the United States to create precise renderings of everyday folk art objects, preserving the nation's vernacular design heritage a...