Burner and Kettle

Art Historical Context

Edith Magnette's *Burner and Kettle*1935/1942) is a delicate yet precise rendering of a modest American household object—a compact burner, likely an alcohol-fueled chafing device, topped with a kettle measuring just 4½ inches high and 6½ inches in. Created as part of the Federal Art Project's Index of American, this graphite and watercolor on paper work (22.6 × 30.5 cm) the everyday ingenuity of early 20th-century domestic tools, evoking a time when such portable items were essential for cooking or warming food in homes without modern appliances. The Index of American Design, launched during the Great Depression under the Works Progress Administration (WPA), employed artists like Magnette to document the nation's folk art, crafts, and design heritage through over 15,000 watercolor renderings. This initiative preserved vanishing aspects of American material culture, highlighting the beauty in utilitarian objects and fostering national pride amid economic hardship. Magnette's contribution reflects the project's emphasis on accuracy and aesthetic appreciation. Magnette's technique shines in her meticulous graphite outlines, which define the burner's intricate metalwork and the kettle's graceful curves, enhanced by subtle watercolor washes that convey subtle metallic sheens and warmth. Housed in the National Gallery of Art, this piece invites visitors to marvel at how ordinary tools embody American craftsmanship and resilience.

About the Artist

Edith Magnette · 1869–1947

Edith Magnette was an American artist who contributed to the Index of American Design during the late 1930s and early 1940s, one of the New Deal's most ambitious cultural programs. Operating under the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project, the Index employed artists across the United States to produce meticulous watercolor renderings of American decorative arts and material culture f...