Cigar Store Indian c. 1936

This Cigar Store Indian was painted by Henry Granet, sometime in the 20th century, and looks like it's gouache on paper. The way the colours are applied feels very process oriented, each hue given space to live without being blended into the next, a method I often adopt myself! Looking closely, you can see the medium, gouache, is opaque, and Granet has worked with this, using colour to suggest both form and shadow. See how the ochre and blue collide, not quite mixing, to create the impression of a darker shade. It’s the same with the base, where thick black paint has been laid down over the flat paper to build up the statue’s plinth. My eye is drawn to the figure’s skirt, where blocks of red, green and gold jostle for position, somehow managing to sit harmoniously together. This feels like the folk art of someone like Bill Traylor, with that same drive to represent the world filtered through a very personal lens. What does it mean to make art? To record, reconfigure, reimagine. The beauty is that there are no right answers.