Cigar Store Indian c. 1940

Robert W.R. Taylor made this watercolor of a Cigar Store Indian. These figures, which are in fact not from India, but from the Americas, were often placed outside tobacconists in 19th-century America to attract customers. The image plays on then-current romanticized notions of the ‘noble savage.’ The figure in the painting—with its headdress, jewelry, and knife—is presented as an exotic and masculine figure. By the time of this painting, Indigenous people in the US had been decimated by disease and warfare. Many had been forced off their ancestral lands and onto reservations. These conditions were rarely acknowledged in the popular image of the cigar store Indian. Understanding such historical context is crucial. We can consult archives, newspapers, and other period documents to reveal the complex social forces that shaped the production and reception of the image. After all, the meaning of art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.