Shoeshine boxes follow the tradition of folk art by deriving everyday beauty from utility and need. These emerged in the 30′s and 40′s during the depression; when everything collapsed in a fell swoop and the world became much more dark. It’s an interesting parallel to the financial crisis of today; because instead of complaining about their home foreclosing and how banks are to blame, people back then actually got up and did something. No job? Fine, we will go shine shoes; anything to keep a roof over their heads. Although it wasn’t the most reputable job, shiners had huge pride in their work, which showed in their boxes as an expression of the owner. Many proudly display the worker’s name, or feature big pictures and decorations. These artifacts convey the discrete charm of hard times.
For customers, getting a shoeshine allowed for a few minutes of escape and rest from the world, and a chance to hear a good story and feel important. It could even provide advice; J.P. Morgan famously escaped the stock market collapse after his shoe-shiner tried to give him a stock tip (and he realized the market was too saturated).
Although some were done by professional sign-painters, the vast majority where crudely painted, and these boxes represent the optimism and struggle of an era. They often have beautiful designs similar to the famous signs captured by Walker Evans. Some don’t have straight lettering, or even misspellings (one box says “shoe shin” because the artist ran out of room), but this draws you in ever further to the art.
This bright red painted shoebox was deaccessioned by the now sadly defunct, Ike Turner (of Ike and Tina Turner fame) Museum of Afro-American History. Another interesting aspect of this piece is the smiley face. At a quick glance it just seems like another attention-grabber, but upon a closer look you can see that it is made out of Louisiana welfare coins. Considering how welfare is associated with being poor and unhappy, this smiley face was making something positive out of the negative. It could have also been a way to draw customers in by showing how badly the shiner needed money.
You also might notice a strange discrepancy in the piece. While the front side has a 15 cent price displayed, the back says 10 cents. The operator used this to his advantage by changing the price and turning the box around when he saw wealthier people who could swing the extra nickel.
This shoeshine box, pictured above, features very intricate designs that tell an interesting history. The first thing that draws most viewers in is the lion carving with “Numa” written above it. This shoeshine was operated at Gay’s Lion Farm, in El Monte, California. Numa was the largest lion and the farm’s biggest attraction, so the operator tried to draw people in with this connection. Another historical part of this box is the red NRA carving, which stands for National Recovery Act, and was a part of FDR’s “New Deal”. This lettering indicates that the business was working with NRA codes to eliminate cut-throat competition and have fair pricing/employee pay. Many businesses where boycotted if they didn’t have an NRA sign displayed, so some shops would just display the sign without following any of the codes, and this may have just been put on the box to get more business.
There clearly was a huge amount of work put into this box, and the owner displayed pride in his job. This can be seen with the way he displays his name Ben so prominently. It also features an Indian carving and a metal eagle to dress up the box.
The box above is from a Midwest-Chicago area circus. Although most shoeshine boxes are built right-footed, this one is built for the left foot, and there is a very interesting story behind this oddity.
The shoe-shiner would be at the entrance of the carnival and serve as a greeter to guests, and offer them a free shine. Since most wallets are carried in the right pocket, when the guest put their left foot on the box their wallet stuck out.
The employee wasn’t actually concerned with giving people a shine, but used this to glimpse at how fat the wallet was. In this era without credit cards, the fatness of a wallet was a big indicator of how much money the person had. Afterwards, the shiner would give the rich guests a “friendly” pat on the back and tell them to enjoy the show. Unknown to the guest, this shiner had chalk on his hand, and employees that operated the games and rides would pay attention to the “marks” because they had a lot of money to spend.