Gordon Saltar

Gordon Saltar was an American artist active in the United States during a brief period between 1935 and 1938. His documented professional output is concentrated entirely within the Index of American Design (IAD), a large-scale Works Progress Administration (WPA) project dedicated to documenting early American decorative and utilitarian arts.

Saltar is represented in museum collections by twelve known renderings created for the IAD archive. These illustrations are valuable historical documents, providing precise, detailed documentation of material culture that often featured precise watercolor or tempera techniques. His works are primarily recognized for their technical accuracy necessary for archival record-keeping.

The core of Saltar’s archived contributions is held in the National Gallery of Art. Notable works illustrating the scope of his rendering subjects include the documentation of a Foot Warmer, a Gimble Candle Lamp, a Pitcher, a Quill Sharpener Knife, and a Bootjack.

Due to their provenance within the federal arts projects, Gordon Saltar prints and drawings are often available as royalty-free reproductions. The historical significance and technical execution of these drawings ensure their ongoing use for scholarship, with many of these historical documents available today as high-quality prints within the public domain.