Cigar Store Figure 1935 - 1942

Curator: Well, Editor, here we have a colored pencil drawing titled "Cigar Store Figure." The artist is Einar Heiberg and it's dated somewhere between 1935 and 1942. What strikes you first? Editor: Okay, right away, that jaunty little cap! There’s a kind of wistful humor about this drawing. The character looks a bit like a friendly scarecrow advertising tobacco. It’s quaintly disturbing, don’t you think? Curator: I do. The cigar store figure as an object carries so much weight, especially regarding its place in a history of racist caricature. Seeing it re-rendered like this forces reflection. Notice how carefully Heiberg articulates every crease in the figure's striped trousers. There is dignity there, in the precision. Editor: Absolutely. There's a tension between the figure's stereotypical role and the obvious care in its creation. Look at the detail on that base, "Choice Brands of Cigars"...even the cigar stump he is holding. Is Heiberg critiquing something, or simply documenting it? Curator: Perhaps both? These figures were ubiquitous. By rendering it in coloured pencil, not photographically, he seems to be examining it – inviting us to re-see it. The patch on the knee is especially compelling as a touch. Editor: A deliberate gesture to elicit our sympathy? It does work. The medium of colored pencil, typically used for sketching, almost elevates what was intended as advertising into portraiture, despite, or because of, the caricature. I get a deep sense of place and time from this image, like glimpsing a lost America, full of complicated stories. Curator: Precisely. A blend of documentation, reflection, and perhaps a touch of unease. Heiberg captures not just the image of a bygone artifact, but the echoes of the culture it represents. The caricature still speaks, whether we like it or not. Editor: It really does make you wonder, doesn't it, about who stood before these figures, day after day, making a purchase. What America did they see? Curator: Indeed. More questions than answers, maybe, which I suppose is what makes the piece so compelling. Editor: Compelling, indeed! Thanks for that exploration.