My Cousin’s General Store is an example of the figurative work that Robert Indiana, then known as Robert Clark, produced as a student at Arsenal Technical High School. There he was greatly influenced by a watercolorist from Philadelphia, Sara Bard, who introduced him to a wide range of twentieth-century artists, including American regionalist painters such as Charles Sheeler, Edward Hopper, and Reginald Marsh. Marsh’s impact in particular can be seen in Indiana’s high school works, which the artist later referred to as “Reginald Marsh-esque.” [1]
While Marsh depicted scenes of life in New York City, Indiana captured scenes from Indianapolis and its surrounding towns. This watercolor depicts the general store run by a cousin in the tiny town of Bean Blossom. The town is located in Brown County, home to a small arts colony which was one of Indiana’s only exposures to the arts as a child. Other elements of the work, such as the small gas station and automobiles, also had personal meaning. Indiana’s father worked for the petroleum industry, first as an oil executive, then, due to the Depression, pumping gas. And the car was a “dominating and consistent aspect of [Indiana’s] childhood,” with the artist noting that “it seemed half of my life was spent in the automobile. We were always driving someplace for something.” [2] Also seen in this work is an early interest in roadside signs (here “Gas,” “Oil/Apples Fruit,” “Apple Cider”), which would come to play a significant role in his art as the self-proclaimed “painter of signs.”
[1] Susan Elizabeth Ryan, interview with Robert Indiana, August 28–30, 1989, Robert Indiana: Figures of Speech Archive 1987–2005.
[2] Richard Brown Baker, Oral history interview with Robert Indiana, New York, September 12 and November 7, 1963, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., p. 10.