Cigar Store Indian c. 1937

Walter Hochstrasser made this painting of a Cigar Store Indian, but we don't know exactly when or how. I like to imagine the way the artist must have felt building up the form with layer after layer of paint. The palette is very earthy, isn’t it? It feels like the forms have been built up out of raw clay, which creates a wonderful sense of three-dimensionality on a flat surface. Look closely, and you can see how the texture has been worked into the piece, like the ripples in the hair, or the fine lines of the headdress. The way the paint has been applied suggests a sculptural approach to image making, each mark building towards the final image. The work has a certain echo of artists like Marsden Hartley, especially in the way that Hartley evokes a feeling of solidity. But what sets this work apart is a raw quality that feels both intimate and quietly monumental. It’s this tension that I think makes the work so special, suggesting how art can embrace multiple interpretations over fixed meanings.