Dorothy Brennan

Dorothy Brennan was an artist active during the late 1930s, specifically documented between 1935 and 1939. Her known output is directly associated with the Index of American Design (IAD), a major federal arts project established during the New Deal era. The IAD was tasked with creating detailed, high-quality visual records of historic American decorative, folk, and utilitarian objects.

Brennan contributed fourteen designs to the Index of American Design archive. These works are meticulous, documentary renderings focused on material culture and regional American crafts. Examples of her surviving artwork, typically executed in watercolor or gouache, include detailed studies of metal and leather, such as Cow Bell, Cow Bell #4, and Cow Bell #6 (With Star), alongside depictions of ceramics and textiles, including the folk artifact "Dog Toby" Hand Puppet and the Brown Pottery Toby Jug. These precise representations are essential sources for understanding pre-industrial American craftsmanship, and today, digitized images of Dorothy Brennan prints are often available for scholarly research.

The integrity and historical importance of Brennan’s work are established by its preservation in major institutions. Fourteen of her IAD designs are represented in museum collections, including the archive held within the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Because these federal works are typically in the public domain, they are frequently reproduced as high-quality prints, ensuring continued access to this valuable visual record of American history.