The incredible works of New Deal artist Perkins Harnly

The following artworks are by Perkins Harnly (1901-1986). Harnly created these for the  Index of American Design - a WPA project that lasted from 1935-1942. The images come from the National Gallery of Art (NGA) and are in the public domain. (For more information on this WPA project--which created over 18,000 works of art--see the NGA summary, "Index of American Design.")

Above: "Backdrop for Vaudeville Stage"

Above: "Barn Gangway"

Above: "Bedroom, 1940"

Above: "Blacksmith Shop"

Above: "Dentist's Operating Room"

Above: "Fire Station"

Above: "Millinery Shop"

Above: "Monument Display Room"

Above: "Rural Kitchen"

Above: "Veranda"

"I started drawing at the age of seven. A pencil drawing, I did pictures of turkeys and the pilgrims going to church with a gun over their shoulder, stuff like that. Of course it was very crude. I still have some of those things. But I did not develop into an artist of any note until I got on the WPA. They really - because they gave me the reason and the encouragement, the research, the material... I really went to town."

--Perkins Harnly, Oral History Interview, October 15, 1981, Smithsonian Archives of American Art