The Index of American Design: picturing a national identity

The Index of American Design: picturing a national identity

Discusses the exhibition Drawing on America's Past: Folk Art, Modernism, and the Index of American Design on show at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. (27 Nov. 2002- 2 March 2003). The author explains that the exhibition includes 80 watercolours made between 1935 and 1942 under th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Magazine antiques (1971) Vol. 162; no. 6; pp. 74 - 83
Main Author: Clayton, Virginia Tuttle
Format: Magazine Article
Language:English
Published: New York Brant Publications, Incorporated 01-12-2002
Subjects:
Art exhibits
Design
Folk art
Modernism
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Discusses the exhibition Drawing on America's Past: Folk Art, Modernism, and the Index of American Design on show at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. (27 Nov. 2002- 2 March 2003). The author explains that the exhibition includes 80 watercolours made between 1935 and 1942 under the auspices of the Federal Art Project (FAP) and the Work Progress Administration (WPA), highlights the research work undertaken for the production of the accompanying catalogue, and studies the role of the New York librarians Romana Javitz (1903-1980) and Ruth Reeves, the national director of the FAP Holger Cahill (1887-1960), and the cultural historian and folklorist Constance Rourke (1885-1941) in the initiation and production of the Index. She notes the preference for documenting works in watercolour rather than through photography, focuses on the process by which artists registered and trained for the project with reference to the work and participation of the illustrator Suzanne E. Chapman, and refers to the influence of the Index on the public appreciation of American folk art. She studies the fate of the works completed for the Index, noting the failure to publish their works and later criticism that it embodied totalitarian values, and concludes by exploring the value of the Index as a support to contemporary artists and a record of American art forms.
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ISSN:0161-9284