Modern · Smithsonian American Art Museum · saam_1986.65.290
Untitled (Cigar Store Female Figure)
Unidentified, ca. 1875
Smithsonian American Art Museum · Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson · CC0 · Public domain
- Artist
- Unidentified
- Date
- ca. 1875
- Medium
- carved and painted wood with metal
- Dimensions
- 37 3/4 x 11 5/8 x 11 5/8 in. (95.9 x 29.4 x 29.4 cm.)
- Era
- Modern
Why it matters
The decline of the shipbuilding industry in the nineteenth century led many shipcarvers to turn to making shop figures. The most popular of these were cigar store Indians, which stood outside tobacco shops. The symbol of a Native American commonly appeared to advertise tobacco, which was discovered in the New World. The popularity of the figures declined by the end of the nineteenth century, however, with the introduction of electrical store signs and anti-sidewalk-obstruction laws.