Cigar Store Indian 1938

Curator: Here we have Louis Plogsted’s “Cigar Store Indian” created in 1938. Plogsted captures this iconic figure with watercolor on paper, preserving a piece of Americana—though one with complicated roots. Editor: It has a curious effect. I see both pride and… well, not quite mockery, but perhaps a simplification? The colors are vivid, almost playfully so, yet the figure itself is quite solemn. The wheels at the bottom—I assume it's meant as a stand—feel particularly cartoonish, don’t they? Curator: Indeed. Cigar store Indians became widespread in the 19th century, functioning as symbols outside tobacco shops to signal the wares within—often romanticized and reductive depictions. The headdress, the raised hand with a bundle – each became shorthand for the “exotic.” Editor: The feathers particularly! They strike me as simultaneously majestic and… performative. This headdress screams ‘Indian’ in the popular imagination, overshadowing any potential individuality. But beyond the symbolic overload of feathers and hand gestures, there’s an undeniable presence. Curator: Precisely! Consider how the watercolor allows for both precision in detail and a certain softness. Plogsted captures a sense of weight, but also hints at the artifice involved in the object's very existence. Editor: The symbolism of this imagery feels oppressive. It has echoes of forced representation. And what does the depiction of wooden cigar store Indian figure symbolize? The romanticism, in a context where indigenous autonomy and self-representation were—are—continuously challenged... I'm feeling complicated, it sits uneasily with me. Curator: You’ve touched upon something vital. Plogsted’s piece isn't merely a portrait; it's a meditation on how we’ve constructed and consumed images of indigenous peoples. Perhaps that caricature is both the literal carved figure, but also one more facet of cultural understanding? Editor: I wonder if, by immortalizing this ‘Cigar Store Indian’ in watercolor, Plogsted prompts us to unpack its loaded history? The drawing’s not just documenting, but questioning, what exactly we see—or want to see—when we look at these figures. Curator: Exactly. A vital reminder that images speak volumes beyond their immediate surface, echoing through our cultural memory.