Wooden Indian c. 1937

This watercolor titled ‘Wooden Indian’ was completed by Gerald Transpota sometime in the late 20th century. The image depicts a painted wooden sculpture of an Indigenous man. During the 19th and 20th centuries, it was common to find these kinds of sculptures outside tobacco shops. The figures served as advertisements and were a direct reference to the Indigenous people of the Americas, who introduced tobacco to Europeans. While some companies hired Indigenous artists to create these sculptures, many were made by white Americans who had little or no knowledge of Indigenous culture. These figures became deeply problematic as they perpetuated stereotypes and commodified Indigenous culture for commercial gain. More recently, Indigenous artists have used similar imagery in order to challenge these stereotypes. By researching the history of such objects, we can better understand how these kinds of stereotypes are formed and how they impact Indigenous communities.