Drawing on America's Past
Folk Art, Modernism, and the Index of American Design
Washington [D.C.] : National Gallery of Art, [2002]
Format: Book
Description: 253 pages : color illustrations ; 28 cm
"This illustrated book commemorates the sixtieth anniversary of the National Gallery of Art's acquisition of the Index of American Design. Widely regarded as one of the New Deal's most important art projects, the Index began in 1935 as a unit of the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project. Its aim was to compile and eventually publish a visual archive of American folk, popular, and decorative art from the time of settlement to about 1900. The approximately one thousand artists involved in the project created more than eighteen thousand meticulous watercolor portraits of America." "The book displays eighty-two of the finest watercolor renderings along with a selection of the artifacts they represent. The original objects range from quilts, weather vanes, and hand-carved toys to carousel animals, stoneware, and cigar-store figures. Three essays explore the history, operation, and ambitions of the Index of American Design, examine folk-art collecting in America during the early decades of the twentieth century, and consider the Index's role in the search for a national cultural identity in early twentieth-century United States."--BOOK JACKET.
Contents:
Picturing a "usable past" / Virginia Tuttle Clayton -- From attics, sheds, and secondhand shops : collecting folk art in America, 1880-1940 / Elizabeth Stillinger -- American folk art's "distinctive character" : the Index of American Design and New Deal notions of cultural nationalism / Erika Doss -- Catalogue : carvings, domestic artifacts, furniture, textiles, toys, trade signs and figures, weather vanes, whirligigs, and one drum / Deborah Chotner, Virginia Tuttle Clayton, Louisa Ransom -- Artists' biographies -- Annotated list of state projects.
Subjects:
Index of American Design -- Exhibitions.
National Gallery of Art (U.S.) -- Exhibitions.
Decorative arts -- United States -- Exhibitions.
Folk art -- United States -- Exhibitions.
Decorative arts -- Washington (D.C.) -- Exhibitions.
Watercolor painting -- Washington (D.C.) -- Exhibitions.
Index of American Design -- Exhibitions.
National Gallery of Art (U.S.) -- Exhibitions.
Decorative arts -- United States -- Exhibitions.
Folk art -- United States -- Exhibitions.
Decorative arts -- Washington (D.C.) -- Exhibitions.
Watercolor painting -- Washington (D.C.) -- Exhibitions.
ISBN:
0894682954 (alk. paper : pbk.)
Availability | |||
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Call Number | Location | Shelf Location | Status |
ART Folk Cla | Main (Downtown) | Second Level, Nonfiction | In |
Catalog of an exhibition organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, Dec. 2, 2002-Mar. 2, 2003.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-244) and index.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-244) and index.