Cream Pitcher

Art Historical Context

This delicate rendering of a cream pitcher by Thomas Holloway, created 1937, belongs to the Index of American Design, a Works Progress Administration project that documented American decorative arts during the Great Depression. The initiative aimed to preserve the nation’s craft heritage by recording everyday objects that embodied regional traditions and skilled handwork, ensuring their designs would not be lost to time. Holloway employed watercolor, graphite, and colored pencil on paperboard to achieve remarkable accuracy, with the pitcher depicted at its actual size. This precise technique ...