Adolph Opstad

Adolph Opstad was an artist and renderer active during the early 1940s, best known for his contributions to the Index of American Design (IAD). The IAD was a major documentation project established under the Federal Art Project of the New Deal, focused on meticulously recording American decorative arts and folk crafts from the colonial period through the nineteenth century. Opstad’s documented activity spans the years 1940 and 1941.

Opstad’s work consisted of highly detailed, often watercolor, renderings of historic objects, essential for preserving visual records of unique American craftsmanship. Fifteen documented designs attributed to Opstad are held within museum collections. These renderings catalog various elements of early American material culture, including detailed studies such as a Carved Picture Frame and multiple sections of an Applique Coverlet.

The complete archival body of Opstad’s work for the Index of American Design is preserved in the National Gallery of Art (NGA). As a result of their origins in government-sponsored programs, the documentation Opstad created is widely available. Today, Adolph Opstad prints and related material are often categorized as being in the public domain, making high-quality prints and downloadable artwork accessible for educational use and research.