Fulmer, Catcher, Baltimore Orioles, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1888

Curator: Here we have a piece from 1888, "Fulmer, Catcher, Baltimore Orioles" by Goodwin & Company, part of the Old Judge series for Old Judge Cigarettes. It's a photographic print, now held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Editor: Immediately I’m getting sepia dreams… A sort of bronzed echo from a bygone baseball era. He looks so serious, posed ready for action in an unreal field. Almost melancholy. Curator: Yes, the tonal range adheres to the earth tones. Note how the photographers staged Fulmer's action mid-motion and employed sepia to not only age but also evoke qualities of persistence through the corrosive processes of history. Observe, too, the compositional choices; it reflects an aesthetic kinship with Ukiyo-e portraiture. Editor: Ukiyo-e, really? I see that. Now that you mention it, I feel like it echoes prints of Kabuki actors, those powerful poses intended to fix a moment in the public imagination... he could be a warrior! Curator: Precisely. Think of the structural similarities - the stark background, the focus entirely on the figure, the formal emphasis rather than a naturalistic one... It all speaks to a convergence of aesthetic styles and commercial motivations. Note how they cleverly integrated advertisement copy below, transforming the work into a form of consumer messaging, all for "Old Judge Cigarettes". Editor: And he seems a very different sort of athlete, doesn’t he? There’s an… solidity, shall we say? Different than today's sleek players. But yes, how wonderfully subversive, sneaking in art amidst smoke and ash. Adds a bittersweet layer, knowing those cards are both relics and ads. Curator: The baseball card, you see, in its genesis, wasn’t just a means of pictorial representation. Its function within the marketplace demonstrates how art is integrated, influencing consumption and memorializing figures. The portrait of Fulmer becomes less about Fulmer himself and more about the cultural signifiers he represents. Editor: So more about baseball itself as a brand…I keep getting pulled in by the staging…He almost doesn't quite inhabit the scene around him, right? I find myself wanting to place him within his world…give him dimension somehow. Almost as if this artifact captures more than his appearance, more a ghostly essence of baseball from that time, all caught within that amber tint. Curator: Yes, and understanding those levels reveals a structure far richer in signifiers. Editor: Precisely! And that careful encoding...adds yet another curve ball into decoding this lovely vintage card!