“Cigar Box” Pin Cushion
Artist unknown, ca. 1880-1920
Carved, stained, and varnished wood with glass beads and velvet
12 1/8 x 10 x 9 7/8 in.
Smithsonian American Art Museum
“Tramp” art was created from old cigar boxes by tradesmen at the turn of the twentieth century. Craftsmen chip-carved the edges of pieces of wood and layered them together to create furniture, sculptures, and religious objects (Helaine Fendelman, Tramp Art, 1975). These objects were not made by vagrants, but by traveling printers, carpenters, and cigar makers who “tramped” from city to city advertising their skills (Lynda Hartigan, Made with Passion, 1990).
