Marian Page

Marian Page was an artist active during the late New Deal era, contributing to the Index of American Design (IAD) between 1936 and 1941. The IAD was a significant governmental initiative dedicated to creating comprehensive visual documentation of historical American folk and decorative arts. Page’s role within the Index focused on creating detailed renderings of traditional craft objects and ornamental designs, with documentation totaling at least nine submissions to the archive.

Page is represented in institutional collections by documentation relating to maritime carvings and utilitarian metalwork. These documented works include sketches of the ornamental carvings Billethead and Eagle, alongside records for metallic forms such as Whale Weather Vane and Weather Vane: Rooster. These submissions emphasize the study and preservation of functional American objects from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Verifiable documentation by Marian Page is held within the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Art. Because this work was created as part of a federal project, the resulting drawings and Marian Page prints often reside in the public domain, ensuring broad accessibility. The availability of high-quality prints derived from these historical archives facilitates continued research into American folk design and material culture.