Tongs
c. 1937
Medium
watercolor, graphite, and gouache on paperboard
Dimensions
overall: 35.4 x 23.9 cm (13 15/16 x 9 7/16 in.) Original IAD Object: 16" long
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.15238
Art Historical Context
In the Index of American Design, a landmark WPA project from the 1930s, artist Samuel Fineman captured the humble yet essential beauty of everyday American craftsmanship with *Tongs* (c. 1937). This precise rendering depicts a 16-inch-long of tongs—likely a blacksmith's tool or hearth implement—rendered in watercolor, graphite, and gouache on paperboard (35.4 x 23.9 cm). Created during the Great Depression, Index employed artists across the U.S. to document folk art, tools, and decorative objects, preserving a vanishing material culture through vibrant, detailed illustrations. Fineman's style...
About the Artist
Samuel Fineman
Samuel Fineman was an American artist active during the late 1930s, 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 watercolor renderings of everyday folk art, crafts, and decorative objects, capturing the essence of Ame...