Wooden Chest
c. 1939
Medium
watercolor and colored pencil on paperboard
Dimensions
overall: 27.9 x 35.8 cm (11 x 14 1/8 in.) Original IAD Object: 38 x 20 x 20 inches
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.4650
Art Historical Context
Created around 1939 by artist James Dwyer, *Wooden Chest* is a meticulous watercolor and colored pencil rendering on paperboard, measuring 27.9 x 35.8 cm (11 x 14 1/8 in.). Part of the prestigious Index of American Design (IAD), housed in the National Gallery of Art's CG-W Department, this work documents a real wooden chest originally sized at 38 x 20 x 20 inches. The IAD, a Federal Art Project under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Great Depression (1935–1942), commissioned artists like Dwyer to capture America's folk art and decorative traditions through vibrant, accurate i...