Butter Worker
c. 1941
Medium
watercolor and graphite on paperboard
Dimensions
overall: 35.5 x 28 cm (14 x 11 in.) Original IAD Object: 8 3/4" high; 4 11/16" wide; 4" deep
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.9024
Art Historical Context
**Butter Worker** by Hester Duany, created around 1941, is a delicate watercolor and graphite rendering on paperboard, measuring 35.5 x 28 cm (14 x 11 in.). This artwork faithfully captures a humble yet essential tool from American folk tradition—a butter worker, originally about 8 3/4 inches high, 4 11/16 inches wide, and 4 deep. Duany's precise lines and soft washes bring to life the object's functional form, likely a wooden paddle or churn used in colonial and early American households to knead and shape freshly made butter. As part of the *Index of American Design* (IAD), a Federal Art Pr...
About the Artist
Hester Duany
Hester Duany (1891–1964) was an American artist best known for her meticulous renderings of traditional American folk art objects as part of the Index of American Design, a Federal Art Project under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) from 1935 to 1942. Working out of the New York City Project, Duany contributed dozens of watercolor and graphite drawings on paperboard that captured the intrica...