John Price

John Price was an artist active during the late 1930s and early 1940s, whose known output consists entirely of precise renderings created for the Index of American Design (IAD). Price was active specifically between 1939 and 1942, contributing to this important Works Progress Administration (WPA) project established to document and preserve the visual record of American decorative and folk art.

As a contributor to the IAD, Price’s work required meticulous attention to scale and texture, ensuring accurate visual preservation of utilitarian artifacts. Eight of his documented works are preserved in major institutional collections, cataloging a diverse range of 18th and 19th-century objects. Specific examples of his detailed technical drawings include renderings of the domestic item Butter Mold, the tool Bootjack, and the furniture piece Sheraton Chair. Other documented works include the Charcoal Stove and the Field Water Keg.

The body of work attributed to John Price is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art (NGA). As government-sponsored documentation, these detailed images are often in the public domain. Today, researchers and collectors frequently utilize the availability of high-quality prints derived from these resources, acknowledging their museum-quality value as primary documents of American material history.