Cigar Store Indian c. 1940

Curator: Standing before us is a piece entitled "Cigar Store Indian" attributed to Robert W.R. Taylor, likely created around 1940. It’s rendered with colored pencil and watercolor, offering a distinctly vivid take on a familiar figure. Editor: It strikes me as immediately melancholic. The slightly downturned gaze, the muted palette despite its color – it reads as a memorial more than an advertisement. Curator: The subject echoes figures long associated with the commercial landscape, meant to draw customers into tobacco shops. We see an appropriation of indigenous identity used for the purpose of selling goods. The artist, however, paints not a figure of bold enticement, but a quieter reflection. Editor: Yes, the pose and handling of color create an air of solemnity. Look at how the blues and browns dominate, the ochre trim almost highlighting her restraint. The verticality of the composition also creates this sense of imposing solitude. Curator: The “Indian” statue itself as an archetype carried the weight of history, conjuring romanticized, often inaccurate narratives of Indigenous people. Taylor is showing the constructed identity and historical legacy rather than presenting an exact individual. It becomes an interpretation of an object representing a misinterpretation. Editor: Agreed. Even the rendering—watercolor and colored pencil instead of wood—contributes to a feeling of the subject being twice removed, once through the object and again through its artistic rendition. It isn't about accuracy; it's about layers of representation. It's intriguing how a subject meant to entice becomes so withdrawn. Curator: Consider the gesture of the hands. There is no beckoning here; there is only contemplation. The symbolism is inverted to challenge expectation and inspire questions about the history that these images invoke. It invites a reflection on representation itself. Editor: It becomes an act of quiet rebellion, transforming a commercial emblem into an introspective, questioning statement through the sheer force of its compositional choices. An elegant and loaded use of material and composition to speak volumes. Curator: Absolutely, thank you. Editor: My pleasure.