De eerste sigaar 1876 - 1890

Curator: My immediate impression is one of narrative chaos, with a somewhat comedic effect. Editor: That's apt. We are looking at a lithograph titled "De eerste sigaar", or "The First Cigar," made sometime between 1876 and 1890 by an artist known only as Michelet. The piece unfolds as a series of sequential images, almost like a comic strip. Curator: Exactly. There’s something inherently amusing about these little tableaux, and the exaggerated poses give it a certain energy and verve. Editor: Indeed. As a print it aligns itself with the populist medium of caricature while adopting elements of genre painting in that it’s presenting a moral tale through domestic imagery. The sequential scenes tell the story of a young boy and the various social mishaps that follow after he decides to smoke his first cigar. The boy’s actions result in him fainting. Curator: The color palette, limited as it is, also adds to the period charm of it all, reflecting a slightly bygone era through visual codes, an art nouveau style I might say. The imagery certainly feels evocative of anxieties surrounding changing social norms for youth, what with that cautionary tone. We are invited to remember certain ideals or moral precepts related to youth, class and expectations. Editor: What strikes me as particularly potent is the structure—the way the grid orders this story, controlling our gaze and movement throughout its episodes, but never completely confining the sense of something wild and impetuous about it. Curator: And what does this artwork reveal, visually or culturally? In a way the sequence becomes almost a type of initiation tale into the trials of masculinity and maturity; he attempts to imitate adults through tobacco but the visual progression seems almost cyclical. It starts, comically ends, and restarts once again! Editor: Right, through this artwork we can perceive a tension, maybe between conformity and rebelliousness or innocence and corruption, but all framed by how Michelet constructs the sequence itself, that careful order. Curator: All said, quite an affecting little period narrative about navigating cultural conventions, really. Editor: Yes, definitely made me look closer at how artwork employs narrative elements as crucial building blocks to express complex concepts.