Desk
1935/1942
Medium
watercolor and graphite on paper
Dimensions
overall: 28.5 x 23.5 cm (11 1/4 x 9 1/4 in.)
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.10418
Art Historical Context
Edna C. Rex's *Desk* (1935/1942) is a meticulous watercolor and graphite rendering on paper, capturing the elegant lines and craftsmanship of an American desk. Measuring 28.5 x 23.5 cm, this work belongs to the National Gallery Art's Index of American collection, a treasure trove of Depression-era documentation. Created as part of the Federal Art under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Progress Administration (WPA), the Index employed artists like Rex to produce over 15,000 precise illustrations of American folk art, crafts, and design objects from the 17th to 19th centuries. Watercolor allow...
About the Artist
Edna C. Rex
Edna Crenshaw Rex was an American artist active in the late 1930s and around 1940, best known for her meticulous contributions to the Index of American Design, the federally funded visual survey of American decorative arts produced under the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project. Her full name — Edna Crenshaw Rex — appears in the National Gallery of Art's records, which holds the Ind...