Getzein, Pitcher, Indianapolis, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1888

Curator: This is a rather unassuming albumen print, dating from 1888. Goodwin & Company created this for Old Judge Cigarettes. The image depicts Getzein, a pitcher for Indianapolis. What's your immediate reaction to it? Editor: It feels incredibly tactile. I’m immediately drawn to the textures – the paper itself, the man’s striped shirt, and his rather rugged trousers. You can almost feel the roughness. What sort of paper was typical at this time for an albumen print used in advertisement? Curator: The use of the albumen process, derived from egg whites, gives it that unique sheen and depth, an aesthetic of refinement. It also gave a richness to tones, capturing shadow detail to burnish a player’s cultural prestige, something which I think remains true even today with athletes endorsing goods. We should also observe that this material consumption has echoes in ancient votives, made to be offered at a later date as testament of this baseball player as idol. Editor: Right, it’s interesting to think about cigarettes as both a product of industrial agriculture and a medium for celebrating…athleticism. Labor produced and reproduced on the very medium it is exploiting for profit! Curator: Quite the duality. The print then becomes more than a simple portrait; it's a microcosm of societal values, a fleeting glimpse into late 19th-century American culture. What resonates with me is that here we are, still looking at it today, speaking about it, despite all the odds against it, from the throwaway status that these photographs once occupied to being held and studied today as artwork. Editor: The transformation from promotional ephemera to museum piece says so much about shifting values, and the persistent allure of…what? Of a particular type of masculine ideal and an industrial aesthetic. I appreciate how our different viewpoints draw out different layers of the image. Curator: And to examine that change and continued importance of material goods through their cultural representations truly creates a robust view of the artwork as historical item and as object of reverence. Editor: Exactly. A dialogue between medium and memory; between labor and… well, and leisure! A lovely way to think of this print!