Cigar Store Indian c. 1937

This is Walter Hochstrasser’s painting of a ‘Cigar Store Indian’, but we don’t know when he made it, or with what. It looks like he’s trying to capture the feel of the carved wooden figure in paint; building a painting that replicates the surface texture of the wood. I love the scumbled grey and brown shades over the figure's dress. They make me think of a time-worn and weathered wooden statue. You can almost feel the hand of the artist, and the history of many hands, in those marks. Look closely at the way Hochstrasser uses color to create depth and shadow, the brown lines around the chest and hem of the skirt really pop and give the figure definition. This almost naive style is reminiscent of early American folk art, like the work of Edward Hicks. The raw, unrefined quality gives it a certain charm, don't you think? It's like a conversation between different times and approaches to artmaking. Art always talks to art, right?