Jack McAuliffe, Pugilist, from World's Champions, Series 1 (N28) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes 1887

This portrait of Jack McAuliffe, the “Napoleon of the Ring”, was produced as a chromolithograph card, part of a series for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes. Lithography is a printing process that relies on the chemical repulsion between oil and water. The image is drawn on a stone or metal plate with a greasy substance, and then the plate is wetted. Ink adheres only to the greasy areas, allowing the image to be transferred to paper. Chromolithography adds layers of color, each from a separate stone, resulting in a vibrant, almost photographic effect. Here, that technique transforms McAuliffe into a commercial object, a collectible associated with smoking. It is a beautiful thing made to drive sales of a harmful product. The card's small size reflects its origin as a free insert within a cigarette pack, an enticing bonus for consumers. The intense labor needed to produce such images fed the expansion of industrial capitalism. Ultimately, this unassuming card reveals a complex intersection of sport, celebrity, marketing, and the era’s evolving visual culture.