Not Engaged, from the Parasol Drills series (N18) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands 1888

Curator: Let’s turn our attention to “Not Engaged, from the Parasol Drills series (N18) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands,” dating from 1888. Editor: It's… unexpectedly melancholic, considering its origins as a cigarette card. There’s a sweetness there, but with a quiet air of wistful contemplation. I like that tension. Curator: The Allen & Ginter company, based in Richmond, Virginia, was a major tobacco manufacturer. These cards, part of a larger series, used chromolithography to depict idealized figures—in this case, a stylish woman. Think about the industrial processes necessary to mass-produce these images, their accessibility to the working class… Editor: That's quite a bird sitting on her hat! Two actually, tucked among the frills, as if whispering secrets of courtship in her ear. It is at once playful, morbid and extravagant. Do you think that's a reflection of societal pressure or of the artist's imagination? Curator: It’s both! Advertising like this actively constructed aspiration. Look at her gloves and striped gown, the overall presentation implies a leisured life, enabled in part by the products Ginter sold and also an active participate to the social environment and norms. Editor: But what's most striking to me is that the image itself betrays its claim. This woman projects poise, control – and a certain quiet defiance, so she is 'Not Engaged' but at what, she must feel something Curator: Yes, the 'not engaged' is telling—referencing societal expectations around marriage, particularly for women in the late 19th century. What options did women have outside of matrimony? What about female autonomy at a time where most commodities are readily manufactured by industrial labor forces. Editor: Well, the artist’s treatment makes me wonder whether the label is defiance or acknowledgement of a sad social status Curator: Precisely. And thinking materially, how these images entered into homes. Tobacco was part of people's lives, how it changed domestic space… How consumption literally shaped one's personal understanding of the world. Editor: The way the sunlight hits the details. I feel this portrait gives you time and a bit of hope Curator: An object, then, laden with implications far beyond its intended promotional purpose. A fascinating insight into the era. Editor: Yes. The quiet narrative hidden beneath the sheen of commercial appeal—it really is very moving to find art unexpectedly embedded within consumer artifacts.