Pot Hooks
c. 1938
Medium
watercolor and graphite on paper
Dimensions
overall: 35.4 x 27.8 cm (13 15/16 x 10 15/16 in.)
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.11516
Art Historical Context
**Pot Hooks** by Hassebrock, around 1938, captures humble beauty of everyday American craftsmanship in a precise watercolor and graphite rendering on (35.4 x 27.8 cm). This work depicts traditional pot hooks—wrought-iron utensils essential for suspending cookware over open hearths in colonial homes—elevating functional objects into symbols of ingenuity and endurance. As part of the *Index of American Design*, Federal Art Project under the Works Progress Administration (1935–1942), Hassebrock's piece reflects a New Deal-era effort to document and celebrate the nation's folk art and decorative ...
About the Artist
Fred Hassebrock
Fred Hassebrock is an artist for whom biographical documentation is very limited. No birth or death dates have been established, and his nationality and training are not recorded in major reference sources. His name does not appear prominently in standard art-historical surveys, and the specifics of his career — the schools he attended, the teachers who influenced him, the movements with which he...