Charles Moss

Charles Moss holds a notable, if condensed, position within the visual record of American material culture, primarily through his contributions to the Index of American Design (IAD). Active during a narrow window between 1936 and 1937, Moss worked under the auspices of the Federal Art Project, a key initiative of the New Deal, dedicating his precise technical skills to documenting the decorative arts produced in the United States prior to 1900.

Moss specialized in creating highly accurate, detailed renderings of utilitarian and folk artifacts. His 15 recorded designs function as crucial historical records, capturing everyday objects often overlooked by traditional fine art studies. The documented pieces reveal an astute eye for historical form and material, ranging from refined domestic items, such as the detailed Scent Bottle with Stopper and the charming Trinket Box with Lid, to decidedly vernacular and commercial iconography, evidenced by his meticulous illustration of the monumental Cigar Store Indian.

The IAD project was founded not for artistic creation but for exhaustive historical preservation, and Moss’s output provides exceptional insight into the design sensibility of early America, transforming common items like the humble Butter Crock and the standard Bottle into subjects worthy of careful study. His technique successfully balances the requirements of the anthropological record with the aesthetic demands of professional drawing.

These important works are now held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, representing museum-quality documentation of America’s material past. It is perhaps a quiet irony that this designer, whose documented period of activity lasted barely twenty-four months, produced works of such lasting instructional and aesthetic value. Because his designs were generated under a federal program established during the Great Depression, many of Moss's high-quality prints are now widely accessible, forming part of the public domain and continuing to serve historians and design enthusiasts alike.