Salt Dip
c. 1936
Medium
watercolor, gouache, pen and ink, and graphite on paperboard
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.11301
Art Historical Context
**Salt Dip** *John Dana, c. 1936* Watercolor, gouache, pen and ink, and graphite on paperboard Index of American Design, National Gallery of Art Step into the charming world of American folk art with John Dana's *Salt Dip* (c. 1936), a meticulous rendering from the Index of American Design. This mixed-media work on paperboard—employing vibrant watercolor and gouache for color, precise pen and ink lines, and graphite for fine details—captures a humble yet elegant salt dip, a small table vessel essential to early American households. Dana's technique brings out the object's subtle textu...
About the Artist
John Dana
**John Dana** (American, active c. 1935) was a meticulous draftsman whose artistic legacy is inextricably linked to the Index of American Design, a landmark Works Progress Administration (WPA) project launched during the Great Depression to catalog and celebrate the nation's folk art and craftsmanship. Operating primarily out of the New York City project, Dana produced hundreds of precise renderin...