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Exhibition History"Sign Sculpture: Shop and Cigar Store Figures in 18th and 19th C. America," Heritage Plantation of Sandwich, Sandwich, MA, May 11, 1997 - October 26, 1997; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD, February 19, 1998 - April 12, 1998; The Museum of American Folk Art, New York, NY, November 8, 1997 - January 25, 1998.
“Folk Art from the Collection of the New York State Historical Association,” Museum of American Folk Art, NY, January 11, 2000 – February 18, 2000.
“Through the Eyes of Others: African Americans and Identity in American Art”, New York State Museum, Albany, NY, August 28, 2009 – January 14, 2010; Fenimore House Museum, Cooperstown, NY, August 23, 2008 – December 31, 2008.
“Folk Art and American Modernism,” American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY, July 8, 2015 – October 1, 2015; Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY, September 18, 2014 – December 31, 2014.
Bibliography"The American Art Book," Phaidon Press, Inc., New York, NY, April 1999.
Attributed to
Job
Cigar Store Figure
Date1825-1850
MediumPainted wood
DimensionsOverall: 46 1/2 × 16 1/2 × 12 1/4 in. (118.1 × 41.9 × 31.1 cm)
Object numberN0145.1961
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of Stephen C. Clark
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextThis powerful figure’s function as a “cigar store Indian” is evidenced by the cigars in her right hand and by clothing that emulates a Native American tunic and deerskin boots. The face of the figure is reminiscent of carved African ceremonial masks found in Yoruba culture, which gives credence to the theory that it was carved by an enslaved man named Job for a tobacconist in Freehold, New Jersey. In 1846 slavery was abolished in New Jersey, although loopholes in the law permitted the owning of slaves until after the Civil War, ending with the passage of the 13th Amendment in 1865.Exhibition History"Sign Sculpture: Shop and Cigar Store Figures in 18th and 19th C. America," Heritage Plantation of Sandwich, Sandwich, MA, May 11, 1997 - October 26, 1997; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD, February 19, 1998 - April 12, 1998; The Museum of American Folk Art, New York, NY, November 8, 1997 - January 25, 1998.
“Folk Art from the Collection of the New York State Historical Association,” Museum of American Folk Art, NY, January 11, 2000 – February 18, 2000.
“Through the Eyes of Others: African Americans and Identity in American Art”, New York State Museum, Albany, NY, August 28, 2009 – January 14, 2010; Fenimore House Museum, Cooperstown, NY, August 23, 2008 – December 31, 2008.
“Folk Art and American Modernism,” American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY, July 8, 2015 – October 1, 2015; Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY, September 18, 2014 – December 31, 2014.
Bibliography"The American Art Book," Phaidon Press, Inc., New York, NY, April 1999.
On View
On view
c.1862
