John Matulis
John Matulis was an artist active for a brief but intensive period between 1935 and 1937. His verifiable output is associated entirely with the Index of American Design (IAD), a major New Deal era Federal Art Project (FAP) initiative dedicated to documenting historic American decorative and folk arts. Matulis contributed to the project’s goal of creating a comprehensive visual archive of craft and design from the colonial era through the nineteenth century.
The five renderings currently documented in museum collections demonstrate the meticulous observational skills required by the IAD mandate. Matulis focused on the documentation of everyday objects and popular amusements, including detailed studies of functional pieces such as a Bean Pot, a Drinking Cup, and a Tall Drinking Mug. His portfolio also includes studies of decorative vernacular sculpture, specifically the documentation of the Circus Wagon Figure: "Dancing Girl" and the Circus Wagon Figure: Muse.
The collection of works associated with John Matulis is preserved today in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Art. As these documents fall under the purview of the Federal Art Project, many of these John Matulis prints are available in the public domain. Researchers can often find high-quality prints and downloadable artwork derived from these government-produced records for non-commercial use.
