Gordena Jackson

Gordena Jackson was an artist active during a concentrated period between 1935 and 1936. Jackson’s output is associated primarily with the Index of American Design (IAD), a seminal project focused on creating a comprehensive visual archive of American material culture, spanning architecture, decorative arts, and functional objects.

Jackson contributed substantially to this documentation effort, with fifteen distinct designs represented in museum collections. These works consist of detailed, factual renderings of artifacts, emphasizing accuracy over artistic interpretation. Notable documented pieces include detailed studies such as Saddle, Basket Tray, Bead Belt, and Indian Basket.

The institutional credibility of Jackson’s work is secured by its inclusion in major national repositories, specifically the collection of the National Gallery of Art. Due to the nature of their creation under a governmental initiative, many of these historical Gordena Jackson prints reside in the public domain. Today, these high-quality prints remain valuable resources for the study of 19th and early 20th-century design.