Cigar Store Indian c. 1936

This ‘Cigar Store Indian’ was made by Walter Hochstrasser with what looks like colored pencil on paper. Imagine Hochstrasser carefully hatching, and layering the colors. He seems to be documenting an object, but also giving it his attention and care. You can see the black, the red, the gold, and the earth tones. His lines define the form of the figure but also, when you look closely, seem to exist on their own terms. I wonder what Hochstrasser thought about while he made it? It makes me think of other artists who collect things or copy from other pictures, like Rauschenberg or Warhol. They're not just copying, they're transforming. Artists, like all of us, are always in conversation with each other. We add something to the mix, and make it new again.