Nicholas Zupa

Nicholas Zupa was an artist active during a concentrated period between 1935 and 1939. Zupa’s documented output relates almost exclusively to the Index of American Design, a Federal Art Project initiative established during the New Deal era to create a comprehensive pictorial survey of the history of American decorative and folk arts. This work emphasized meticulous, high-quality documentation of historical material culture rather than personal style or contemporary movements.

Zupa's recorded works comprise thirteen designs represented in institutional collections. These designs focus specifically on documenting late 18th and early 19th-century silver objects. Documented examples include renderings of functional domestic items such as a Silver Bowl, a Silver Spoon, a Silver Creamer, a Silver Sugar Bowl, and a Silver Hot Water Urn. These precise studies constitute museum-quality records of design history.

The complete known body of work by Nicholas Zupa, specifically the 13 designs created for the Index of American Design, is held in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Art. As archival records originating from a federal program, Zupa’s designs are frequently categorized in the public domain, allowing institutions to make downloadable artwork derived from these studies accessible for educational and scholarly uses.