Sugar Bowl
c. 1936
Medium
watercolor and graphite on paperboard
Dimensions
overall: 28.1 x 22.9 cm (11 1/16 x 9 in.) Original IAD Object: 5 1/2" High 5 3/4" Wide
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.7306
Art Historical Context
This watercolor and graphite rendering of a sugar bowl, created around 1936 by Joseph Sudek, belongs to the Index of American Design, a vast visual archive assembled during the Great Depression. Measuring roughly 11 by 9 inches, the work on paperboard records a modest domestic object originally about 5½ inches high. Sudek was one of hundreds of artists employed by the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration to produce these exacting illustrations. The Index sought to document American decorative arts and crafts—from colonial times through the nineteenth century—before many ex...
About the Artist
Joseph Sudek
Josef Sudek (1896–1976) was a Czech photographer widely regarded as one of the greatest photographers of the twentieth century, known for his poetic, intimate images of Prague and his mastery of light. Born in Kolín, Bohemia, he lost his right arm during World War I and turned to photography during his convalescence, studying at the State School of Graphic Arts in Prague from 1922 to 1924. Sudek ...