Pearl Torell

Pearl Torell was an artist active during the period 1935 to 1939. Their professional output centered on documentation created for the Index of American Design (IAD), a major New Deal era initiative operated by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The IAD employed artists across the United States to create detailed, factual renderings of American decorative arts, folk objects, and material culture that existed prior to 1900.

The twelve known works by Torell represented in museum collections confirm this mission, focusing on precise visual records of functional objects and popular entertainment figures. Subjects documented include architectural features and vernacular utility items, such as the studies Fence and Hitching Post. Torell also provided detailed illustrations of performance and leisure objects, notably the drawings Marionette, Puppet - "Tight Rope Walker", and the complex object study Toy Bank: "Teddy and the Bear".

These historically significant documents are preserved in the collections of the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., establishing them as museum-quality artifacts of the federal arts programs. As studies created under government mandate, many of the original Pearl Torell prints are now in the public domain, making high-quality prints available for research and study.