Eel, from Fish from American Waters series (N39) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes 1889

Editor: Here we have a print from 1889, "Eel, from Fish from American Waters series (N39) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes," made with colored pencils. It's quite charming, but a bit odd to see an eel depicted for cigarette packaging. What draws your eye when you look at this? Curator: What grabs me is the material context. Cigarette cards were essentially miniature advertisements, cheaply produced, and widely distributed. The 'art' was a tool to push a product, deeply embedded in a system of mass production and consumption. How does the seemingly innocent image of an eel function within that system? Editor: That's interesting. It seems so removed from "high art," yet here it is in the Met. Is the medium relevant here? Curator: Absolutely! The colored pencil drawing and printing process were cheap and quick, ideal for mass production. Think about the labor involved. Someone had to draw the eel, someone else had to engrave it, and then it had to be printed en masse. We often overlook these processes. Editor: So, by looking at the materials and the context of its creation, we can understand more about the artwork? Curator: Precisely. The card's function as advertisement overshadows any aesthetic qualities, exposing it as another cog within the complex workings of consumer society at the end of the 19th century. We're prompted to rethink what even qualifies as "art" when something like this becomes part of the discussion. Editor: It does make me question my own assumptions about what makes art valuable, shifting my focus from aesthetics to the methods and meaning behind it. Curator: Exactly, this piece compels us to examine the relationships among labor, industry, and artistry.