Roger Deats

Roger Deats was an artist active during the formative years of the Index of American Design, with known production dates spanning the period 1939 to 1942. The Index of American Design, a component of the Federal Art Project, focused on the accurate documentation and preservation of American folk and decorative arts, a movement reflected clearly in Deats’s documented output.

Eight Index of American Design artworks attributed to Roger Deats are represented in major museum collections. These works typically function as highly detailed, accurate visual records of historical domestic objects, often rendered in watercolor or graphite. Specific documented pieces held in museum collections include the Ladder Back Chair, the Candle Mold, the Candlestick, the Dough Mixer, and the Triangle Field Water Keg.

This body of work is preserved in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., establishing the historical significance and museum-quality of his contributions to the Index. The detailed nature of these records ensures that high-quality prints of Roger Deats prints remain valuable resources for material culture studies and design history. Furthermore, many of these historical documentation works are now available for scholarly use as public domain material.