Cigar Store Indian

Art Historical Context

Step into the vibrant world of American folk art with *Cigar Store Indian* by Einar Heiberg, a captivating 1935/1942 watercolor, graphite, and pen-and-ink rendering on paper (50.4 x 29.2 cm). This detailed depiction captures the iconic wooden statues that once stood sentinel outside tobacco shops across the United States in the 19th and early 20th centuries. These larger-than-life figures, often carved to represent Native Americans, symbolized the plant's indigenous origins and served as eye-catching trade signs in an era before widespread advertising. Created as part of the Index of American...

About the Artist

Einar Heiberg

Einar Heiberg (1893–1964) was an American artist best known for his meticulous documentation of everyday American folk art objects during the Great Depression era. Active primarily in the late 1930s, Heiberg contributed significantly to the Index of American Design, a groundbreaking Federal Art Project under the Works Progress Administration (WPA). This initiative commissioned artists across the U...