Stencilled Rocker 1938

Lawrence Flynn’s ‘Stencilled Rocker’ is a watercolor and graphite rendering of a rocking chair made in the early twentieth century. This image comes to us from the Index of American Design, a WPA project documenting American material culture during the Great Depression. Why would the US government employ artists to document objects like this? The answer lies in the social and economic anxieties of the 1930s. As mass production threatened traditional crafts, there was a nostalgic turn toward an idealized past. The stencilled rocker, with its handcrafted details, symbolized an older, more authentic America. The Index of American Design thus served a cultural function, reinforcing national identity in a time of crisis. As art historians, we can investigate the social and institutional contexts that shaped both the production of the rocker and its later depiction in the Index. This approach helps us understand how art objects acquire meaning within specific cultural and political moments.