A Garden Party / Lofty Tumbler, from the Jokes series (N118) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Tobacco 1890 - 1893

W. Duke, Sons & Co. produced this lithograph promoting Honest Long Cut Tobacco around the turn of the century, a time of rapid industrialization and shifting social norms. Here we see two vignettes of men consumed by leisure: gardening and drinking. What might these images tell us about labor and masculinity at the time? The figures are rendered in a humorous, exaggerated style, possibly to appeal to a broad audience. We might consider how class intersects with these depictions. While gardening and drinking might be considered leisurely pursuits, they also hint at a certain level of social and economic privilege. The print presents a vision of turn-of-the-century American life, subtly reinforcing societal norms around labor, class, and gender. It prompts us to consider how advertising shapes our perceptions of these roles and the products associated with them.