Tongs and Shovel
c. 1939
Medium
graphite and watercolor on paperboard
Dimensions
overall: 27.7 x 20.9 cm (10 7/8 x 8 1/4 in.) Original IAD Object: 36 1/2" long
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.7977
Art Historical Context
This delicate rendering of tongs and a shovel belongs to the Index of American Design, a Works Progress Administration project launched during the Great Depression. Between 1935 and 1942, hundreds of artists created more than 18,000 precise watercolor renderings of American decorative arts and everyday objects, preserving a visual record of the nation’s material culture at a time when many historic artifacts faced loss or destruction. Hans Korsch executed the study in graphite and watercolor on paperboard, a combination that allowed both sharp linear detail and subtle tonal modeling. The orig...
About the Artist
Hans Korsch
Hans Korsch was an American artist active during the mid-20th century, primarily around 1935 to the early 1950s, best known for his contributions to the Index of American Design, a Federal Art Project initiative under the Works Progress Administration (WPA). This ambitious New Deal program employed artists to document everyday American folk art and design objects through precise watercolor renderi...