The Image Business

The carvers themselves coined the phrase "the image business" to characterize the wide range of figures that they were called upon to create. Whether rendered in detailed realism or a more stylized and individualized fashion, shop figures represent one of the largest and most expressive of all American sculptural traditions. As reflections of their era, they also speak volumes about several important aspects of American social history, including racial and gender stereotyping, the emergence of a national popular culture, and the birth of modern commercial advertising.

Shop figures were so much a part of the American scene that no one thought to make note of them until they were threatened with extinction in the final decades of the Nineteenth Century. A few decades later, they were decidedly out of favor, most having already been destroyed, relegated to cellars and back rooms, or donated to local historical societies. As a result, their numbers are much reduced today, and their origins and history have become obscure.

As with many things American, the tradition of shop figure carving originated in Europe. By the first quarter of the Seventeenth Century, craftsmen and merchants had made the link between Native Americans and tobacco. The earliest known representation of a tobacconist figure appeared in 1617 in The Smoking Age, or The Life and Death of Tobacco, a long-rambling tale of the origins of tobacco that ridiculed the extravagance of fashionable English smokers. The frontispiece of the book is an illustration of the interior of a tobacco shop. On the counter is a small, vaguely African figure in a feathered skirt with a tobacco roll under his left arm and several clay pipes at his feet. Known variously as a blackamoor, black boy, or Virginian, the type remained popular in England into the Nineteenth Century. By that time, it had been joined by Scotsmen, Turks, sailors, and other human types, most rendered in quarter to half life-size.

Shop figure carving reached its height in America from about 1840 to 1890. The vast majority of the sculptures made during this time were created by shipcarvers trained in traditional Anglo-American woodcarving techniques who operated through a network of workshops in port cities and towns along the East Coast and, to a lesser extent, the Great Lakes.

Besides producing shop figures, they also created figureheads and other maritime carvings, as well as a wide range of architectural and church work, and, after the mid-Nineteenth Century, circus wagon figures. Their major contribution to the art was the development of life-size shop figures, which came to be known as show figures. In this, they were again following English precedent, as full-size representations of Scotsmen had been used as tobacconists' signs in the British Isles in the Eighteenth Century. The British figures were relatively few, however, compared to the burst of creativity that was about to ensue on this side of the Atlantic.

Patterned after figureheads, life-size shop figures emerged in the United States around 1840, at a time when shipcarving was entering its last major phase of activity. Freestanding figureheads carved in the round were themselves a relatively new development here, having first been copied from French vessels 50 or 60 years earlier.

The Philadelphia sculptor and shipcarver William Rush (1756-1833) is generally credited with introducing the French style of full-length figureheads into the American carvers' repertoire. According to an early Nineteenth Century account, he first saw them in the early 1780s on two French frigates that were repairing in a Philadelphia shipyard. Rush's innovative designs in the following years were influential and helped change the course that figurehead and shop figure carving were to take in the Nineteenth Century.

Shipcarvers were a tight-knit group, bound by both family and master-apprentice relationships. Among Rush's apprentices, for example, was Daniel Train, one of the leading shipcarvers in New York at the turn of the Nineteenth Century. Records show that he actively worked at his trade between 1799 and 1812.

Simeon Skillin, Jr, (1756/7-1806) and his brother, John Skillin (1746-1800), of the Boston shipcarving dynasty, executed Rush's design for the frigate Constitution in 1797. A few years later their nephew, Simeon Skillin, III, (1766-1830) was a partner with the prominent New York City carver Jeremiah Dodge (circa 1780-1860).

Given the success of Rush's designs and this itinerant and highly competitive professional network, it is not surprising that by the early Nineteenth Century the full-length figure, usually dramatically posed on a scroll, was one of the most popular figurehead types in America, along with portrait busts, eagles, and decorative scrolls. These images remained the major styles until the demise of the figurehead tradition in the later part of the century.

By merging the tradition of full-size figureheads with that of the generally smaller shop figures, early Nineteenth Century shipcarvers created an imposing sculptural form that was readily adaptable to the rapidly expanding and increasingly competitive American business environment. By mid-century, the phenomenon had reached the dimensions of a fad, and show figures had become an essential part of many shopkeepers' operations.

The carvers responded by producing a remarkable variety of figures suitable to a wide range of commercial enterprises. The cigar-store Indian was the most popular and prominent type, but new characters reflecting the latest fashions or public opinions were continually created. Portraits of politicians, popular entertainers, and sports heroes were commissioned, from George Washington to Buffalo Bill to John L. Sullivan. Fictional characters were represented as well, especially Punch of "Punch and Judy" fame. According to contemporary accounts, he was particularly popular in the 1870s and 1880s.

Due to the innumerable and often brief partnerships of master shipcarvers, the frequent relocation of even the most stable workshops, and the itinerant nature of the profession, the attribution of figures to a specific carver or even a specific shop remains largely speculative. Dating is more certain, as a stylistic chronology that roughly parallels developments in the fine arts can be applied to figureheads and shop figures.

From the mid-Eighteenth to the early Nineteenth Centuries, shipcarvers combined traditional Baroque-inspired figurehead design with an overlay of Neo-classical dress and accessories. The result was a tendency toward dramatic movement, deep carving, and generalized faces with idealized features. At the end of this period, Neo-classical elements often dominated, as seen in "Mercury," carved around 1830 and attributed to William Rush.

As the Nineteenth Century progressed, elements of romanticism were adopted by the carvers, particularly in the stereotypical depiction of Native Americans in the "noble savage" mode. Carving was somewhat shallower than before, but ornamented surface remained the rule, as did idealized faces with eyes that searched the horizon in the manner of their figurehead ancestors.

Among the men most responsible for the development and production of the type were four New York City shipcarvers: John Cromwell (1805-1873), Thomas Brooks (1828-1895), Thomas White (1825-1902), and Samuel Robb (1851-1928). Thanks to the work of Frederick Fried, Robb's workshop is the most familiar. His was the largest and most successful operation in the final decades of the Nineteenth Century, producing many of the finest examples of New York show figures known today. It is also true, however, that Robb inherited many elements of his style from his predecessors, as was typical in all of the old craft traditions.

Beginning with Cromwell and one or two of his contemporaries, three generations of New York shipcarvers worked in a similar style, producing thousands of figures that are largely variations on a relatively small number of themes. With the exception of special commissions, upon which carvers would indulge their imaginations in highly individualized conceptions, the majority of figures were created using a standard repertoire of poses, expressions, and accessories.

In the latter part of the Nineteenth Century, the emphasis on detailed realism and contemporary dress favored for public monuments and commemorative sculpture influenced the depiction of many characters. The best figures were carved with much attention to detail, while faces were frequently handled more naturalistically. At the same time, their tendencies were often mixed with a strong element of caricature that was also seen in newspapers and the popular press. One typical urban type, known at the time as a "Dude" or "Race Track Tout," was particularly popular.

In large part, these stylistic parallels with the fine and graphic arts resulted from the fact that the carvers were creating works for an American public that was increasingly aware of current developments in the arts. A few carvers even received some academic training, including Samuel Robb, who attended night classes at Cooper Union and the National Academy of Design in New York City.

Despite the changing styles and details, however, the figures continued to be made in the traditional manner. The preferred material was white pine, usually three- to seven-foot sections of masts purchased at spar yards in the maritime district. The larger carving shops consisted of one or two master carvers, a few apprentices, and one or more itinerant journeyman carvers who were engaged on a daily or weekly basis, depending upon the number of orders to be filled. Other master carvers worked alone, with perhaps only a single apprentice. The work proceeded by hand.

For the more popular types that were often repeated, a paper pattern was used as a guide. The carvers' tools were axes, mallets, and chisels. While the inspiration for a particular figure might come from any number of different sources, industrialization never made much headway in a craft that demanded so much handwork. For this reason, show figures made by shipcarvers represent a fascinating blend of folk, fine, and popular art.

At the other end of the folk art continuum are those self-taught carvers who fashioned figures for local markets, often in smaller inland towns and rural areas. Throughout the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, carpenters, cabinetmakers, and part-time woodworkers in all parts of the country produced shop figures on demand or for personal enjoyment.

Little can be said about common training of techniques of these generally unidentified artists, other than what can be inferred from their work. They represent a diverse collection of individuals who usually operated independently of one another, often creating one-of-a-kind pieces patterned after those produced in the seaport shops. In all, they produced far fewer figures than did the shipcarvers, and again survival rates for the figures are low. As a result, their work is extremely rare today. Their artistry speaks for itself, however, and among the surviving examples are some of the most dynamic and engaging pieces of American folk sculpture.

The third and smallest group of carvers were those academically trained artists who responded to the growing demand for show figures in the second half of the Nineteenth Century. Included with them are woodcarvers trained in the European system, mainly Germans and French Canadians, who as apprentices had followed a course of study that included instruction from recognized sculptors.

Among these artists is Caspar Buberl (1834-1899), a Czechoslovakian-born sculptor best known for his Civil War memorial groups. Around 1875, he modeled a figure of Puck (a character made famous by the English satirical magazine of the same name), which was cast in zinc holding a large pen in one hand and a bunch of cigars in the other. The original figure was probably not carved in wood. More likely Buberl worked in clay and other artisans translated his figure into metal.

Unlike Buberl, Julius Melchers (1829-1909), a German sculptor and woodcarver who settled in Detroit in 1855, worked in several different mediums, including wood, plaster, and stone. He had apprenticed with a sculptor in his native Prussia and studied with two leading academic sculptors at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris.

For more than 40 years, his Detroit workshop produced architectural sculpture, church carvings, patterns for decorative castings, and shop figures. Melchers also conducted classes in drawing and modeling, and so made a major contribution to Detroit's fledgling artistic community.

After 1860 show figures were marketed nationally by a few large tobacco products distributors. The most successful of these was William Demuth & Company, a New York firm that offered a full line of figures through catalogue sales. Demuth also sent salesmen across the country and set up elaborate displays in major national expositions and industrial fairs, including the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Among the firm's major innovations was the introduction of zinc figures, an idea that Demuth developed with Moritz Seelig, a fellow German immigrant who operated a foundry in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.

Demuth's 1875 catalogue offered 30 different zinc figures, from several varieties of Indians to Buberl's Puck. He also sold countless wooden figures through the mail. Both Samuel Robb and Thomas White worked for him, and other New York carvers probably did as well. Together they established New York City as a center of show figure production and distribution, spreading the New York style across the country.

Show figures had found a niche in the rapidly evolving arenas of commercial art and popular culture. The vogue did not last long, however. For a variety of reasons, including over supply, changing tastes, and new modes of advertising, the production of new figures virtually ceased by 1900. They were increasingly seen as old-fashioned, symbols of an era that was rapidly passing away.

Most of the traditional shipcarvers were out of business, their craft having been doomed by the advent of metal-hulled ships several decades earlier. After the turn of the century, the lessened demand for shop figures was easily met by repainting and recycling older ones.

While the art of the shipcarver gradually faded from the American scene, shop figures have never disappeared. The work of self-taught artists has continued, made all the more visible in our time by the demise of many of the old craft traditions.

Ralph Sessions is an independent curator and art historian. He has worked as chief curator of the Museum of American Folk Art, director of the Abigail Adams Smith Museum in New York City, and director of the Historical Society of Rockland County, New York. Sessions is currently a doctoral candidate in art history at the City University of New York. This essay is reprinted courtesy of FolkArt, the magazine of the Museum of American Folk Art, where it appeared earlier this year.

"The Image Business: Shop and Cigar Store Figures in America," an exhibition at Heritage Plantation, Sandwich, Mass., examines the origins, sources, and practice of shop figure carving and traces its development from the earliest English and American examples through its most active period from the 1840s to the 1890s to its decline in the early Twentieth Century.

More than 60 figures from major public and private collections were selected for this, the first comprehensive presentation of this important sculptural tradition in more than 25 years.

"The Image Business: Shop and Cigar Store Figures in America" is on view through October 19. From November 1 through January 25, 1998, it may be seen at the Museum of American Folk Art in New York City. From February 18 through April 12, 1998, it will be on view at the Baltimore Museum of Art.