Monday, September 14, 2009

1932 Photo of Some Folk Art Cigar Store Indians


4 comments:

Joey said...

Thanks for the kind comments Susan!

Your blog looks very interesting too. What a great idea to put all of that information in one place.

American Folk Art @ Cooperstown said...

Hi Joey. I must have missed this post, since I started following you in late September. The photo is very interesting, and the cigar store figures look different from the ones I am familiar with; they are almost Egyptian in style! Fascinating picture. Thanks for sharing it.

American Folk Art @ Cooperstown said...

Actually, now that I look more closely at the photo, it looks as though these are not cigar store figures in the sense that we know them. They are likely carvings made locally for a tourist shop and meant to advertise Indian or pseudo-Indian goods for sale within. Still fascinating, and good to see so we can distinguish them from the figures meant specifically to seel tobacco product. Thanks again.

Joey said...

Ah, that makes sense. It especially feels Egyptian in the crossed arms and straight ahead posture of the figures. That makes a lot of sense considering the Tut fad of the period.

Thanks for the clarification Paul!