Women Operating the Pile Driver
c. 1939
Medium
oil on board
Dimensions
Overall: 43.8 x 58.4 cm (17 1/4 x 23 in.) framed: 53 x 68.6 x 2.5 cm (20 7/8 x 27 x 1 in.)
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.9527
Art Historical Context
In the heart of the New Deal era, *Women Operating the Pile Driver (c. 1939) captures a dynamic moment of American industriousness through the skilled hand of John Koehl, who rendered this oil-on-board work after the folk artist Olof Kr. Part of the prestigious Index of American Design—a Federal Art Project under the Works Progress Administration (WPA)—this piece belongs to a vast documentation effort from 1935 to 1942. Artists like Koehl meticulously recreated everyday objects and scenes of American folk art to preserve the nation's cultural heritage amid the Great Depression, now housed in t...