Einar Heiberg

Einar Heiberg was active as an artist and documentarian during the short period spanning 1935 to 1938. He is primarily known for his contributions to the Index of American Design, a federal art project initiative established to create a comprehensive pictorial survey of American decorative and folk arts from the colonial period onward.

Heiberg’s work involved the detailed documentation of significant historical objects. Fifteen of his index of american designs are currently represented in museum collections, confirming his role in preserving this material culture. These works often focused on examples of American commercial folk sculpture, including multiple renderings titled Cigar Store Indian and at least one documented work titled Cigar Store Figure.

The National Gallery of Art holds Einar Heiberg prints and studies among its permanent collection holdings, establishing the museum-quality standard of his documentation. Since these documents originate from a federal project, they are frequently utilized by researchers interested in historical design. Today, the detailed illustrations created by Heiberg are often available as high-quality prints, contributing to the wealth of publicly accessible materials originating from the public domain initiatives of the 1930s.