Chalkware Pigeon Figurine
c. 1937
Medium
watercolor, graphite, and gouache on paperboard
Dimensions
overall: 29.5 x 21.7 cm (11 5/8 x 8 9/16 in.) Original IAD Object: 5 1/4" high
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.8276
Art Historical Context
Behold the *Chalkware Pigeon Figurine*, a vibrant rendering by artist Mina Lowry from around 1937. This delicate watercolor, graphite, and gouache work on paperboard (29.5 x 21.7 cm) captures a charming 5¼-inch-high folk art sculpture made of molded and painted plaster—known as chalkware. Popular in 19th- and early 20th-century America, these affordable figurines adorned homes, embodying everyday whimsy and craftsmanship. Created as part of the Index of American Design (IAD), a New Deal-era Federal Art Project (1935–1942), Lowry's piece preserves vanishing American decorative arts amid the Gr...
About the Artist
Mina Lowry
Mina Lowry (1894–1942), an American artist born in Canada, emerged as a prominent portrait painter whose career bridged traditional portraiture and the documentation of American folk art. Immigrating to Buffalo, New York, with her family around 1901, she honed her skills early on, winning first prize for modeling at the Albright Art School and studying under the esteemed Florence J. Bach. Lowry fu...