Cigar Store Figure c. 1938

Louis Plogsted painted this dapper Cigar Store Figure in shades of black, gold and sepia. The figure looms large on the page, but it feels kind of vulnerable too; he is a figure of industry and commerce, an advertisement, but he is also just a chubby guy standing on a box that says "Pickwick" over and over again. The texture is interesting here; Plogsted renders the figure in a style that is flat and stylized, but then adds dimension to his face and clothes. The gentleman’s got a bit of a belly. What was Plogsted thinking when he made this? Was he making fun of the guy? Or admiring him? I wonder, how much does the painting resemble the real cigar store figure? Plogsted’s painting makes me consider the kind of art that is about representation, but also about something else: humor, commerce, and a particular kind of everyman that is both ridiculous and sympathetic. Plogsted is participating in a long conversation about how art can be both high and low, serious and funny, all at the same time.