Starling, from the Birds of America series (N4) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands 1888

This small card, printed by Allen & Ginter in Richmond, Virginia, is chromolithography, a process that uses multiple lithographic stones, one for each color, to create a vibrant image. What might strike us today as advertising ephemera was, at the time of its making, at the cutting edge of commercial printmaking. The appeal of chromolithography lay in its ability to cheaply reproduce colorful and attractive images, enticing consumers to purchase cigarette brands and collect the cards. The image of the starling, captured mid-flight, becomes a miniature work of art, but its primary function was to drive sales. The production of these cards involved a complex division of labor, from the artists who created the original designs to the factory workers who operated the printing presses and packaged the cigarettes. Thinking about this card invites us to reconsider the boundaries between art, design, and commerce, prompting questions about the social and economic conditions that shape our visual world.