Visiting Card Tray
c. 1940
Medium
graphite on paper
Dimensions
overall: 22.8 x 29.7 cm (9 x 11 11/16 in.)
Classification
Index of American Design
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Index of American Design
Accession Number
1943.8.9356
Art Historical Context
Helen Hobart's *Visiting Card Tray*c. 1940), a meticulous graphite drawing on paper measuring 22.8 x 29.7 cm, captures the elegance of an everyday American artifact from the Index of American Design. Created as part of this ambitious New Deal-era project, the work exemplifies the precision of graphite rendering, where fine lines and subtle shading bring out intricate details like curves, textures, and ornamental motifs typical of domestic decorative arts. The Index of American Design, in 1935 under the Works Progress Administration (WPA), employed artists across the U.S. to document folk, cra...
About the Artist
Helen Hobart
Helen Hobart is an artist about whom the historical record offers limited documentation. Her nationality, dates of birth and death, and formal training have not been firmly established in the sources currently available to scholars, making a detailed account of her life and career difficult to provide with confidence. The works attributed to Hobart indicate an artist with evident technical skill ...