Bill Collins, Catcher, New York, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1887

Editor: This is "Bill Collins, Catcher, New York" from the "Old Judge series," created in 1887 by Goodwin & Company. It's an albumen print, part of a series for Old Judge Cigarettes. I'm struck by the subject being a sportsman set in commercial context. What can you tell me about this piece? Curator: It’s fascinating to consider this photograph not just as an image but as a commodity, inextricably linked to the tobacco industry and the rise of mass consumerism. Consider the albumen print itself. What does this printing method reveal about the industrial processes in art making that developed alongside of capitalism during this period? Editor: That’s a good question! How was that sort of thing done at scale? Curator: Exactly. And why use photographic images rather than other types of images? In thinking about that question, consider not only its aesthetic properties but its relation to social stratification in Gilded Age society. Here you have an emerging celebrity baseball player whose image is being consumed, but at what social cost given all we know about cigarette use in that period? What types of labor were involved in producing this mass-produced product, from the baseball fields to the factory floors? Editor: So, looking at the image, we’re really looking at a network of production and consumption. I suppose it challenges this high/low art binary. Curator: Precisely! And we can trace that network and learn a great deal from considering all its material and social aspects. Editor: That gives me a lot to think about. Thanks for pointing out what it reveals about nineteenth-century society. Curator: Likewise, this exchange reminds us that seemingly simple images can hold complex narratives.