Wooden Decoy

Art Historical Context

**Wooden Decoy** by Chris Makrenos, created around 1937, is a captivating rendering from the *Index of American Design*IAD), a New Deal-era project under the Works Progress Administration. This initiative employed artists across the U.S. to document everyday objects of American folk art and craftsmanship through precise, colorful illustrations. Makrenos's work captures a wooden duck decoy—a practical yet artful tool used by hunters to lure waterfowl—highlighting the ingenuity of regional carvers in places like the Atlantic Flyway or Great Lakes. Rendered in watercolor, graphite, and colored pencil on paperboard (38.2 x 49.3 cm), the piece showcases meticulous techniques that mimic the decoy's carved wood grain, subtle paint layers, and lifelike form. These media allowed IAD artists to convey texture and realism, preserving the object's three-dimensionality on a flat surface. The decoy's exaggerated features, like its alert posture and vibrant plumage, reflect folk traditions where functionality met aesthetic flair. Today, housed in the National Gallery of Art, this artwork underscores the cultural importance of decoy carving as a distinctly American craft, blending utility, nature observation, and self-taught artistry. It invites visitors to appreciate how ordinary tools embody our shared heritage.

About the Artist

Chris Makrenos · 1855–present

Chris Makrenos was an American artist active in the mid-twentieth century who contributed a substantial body of work to the Index of American Design, the New Deal-era federal project that documented American folk art and decorative culture through meticulous watercolor illustration. His works are held in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and span a wide range of subjects drawn from ...