Cigar Store Indian c. 1936

Walter Hochstrasser created this artwork of a Cigar Store Indian in the 19th century. The figure of the Native American, adorned with feathers and beads, holding a bundle of cigars, speaks volumes about cultural exchange and representation. This image is rooted in a tradition born from the desire to signal the sale of tobacco, but it carries deeper echoes. Consider how the image of the ‘noble savage’ has been used across centuries to embody both admiration and exploitation. One may recall similar figures from Renaissance tapestries depicting exotic lands. The Native American, much like those figures, becomes a symbol laden with complex, often contradictory, cultural meanings. This symbol, evolving through time, reflects our ever-changing understanding of ‘the other’. The enduring nature of such symbols reveals how our collective subconscious engages with cultural memory, perpetually reshaping historical narratives.