Ray Fish, or Skate, from the series Fishers and Fish (N74) for Duke brand cigarettes 1888

Curator: This small print, titled "Ray Fish, or Skate, from the series Fishers and Fish" and dating back to 1888, originates from a series of collectible cards for Duke brand cigarettes, crafted by Knapp & Company. It employs a combination of lithography and colored pencil to create its peculiar scene. Editor: Peculiar is the word! My initial impression is... unsettling. There’s something deeply odd about the juxtaposition of this formally dressed figure, a girl or young woman, with that...thing. It’s grotesque. Curator: These cards were part of a marketing strategy to encourage collecting, tapping into a culture fascinated by visual novelties. The prints aimed to capture public imagination with their lighthearted genre scenes. The Japanese ukiyo-e influence is noticeable, if faint. Editor: Right. So, the intent was consumer engagement, essentially using kitsch and the bizarre to sell cigarettes? And there’s a kind of colonial gesture, right? Drawing on Japanese aesthetics, flattening and commodifying cultural reference for commerce? That caricature of a figure with an oversized head feels like another dehumanizing layer, like she’s an object. Curator: Precisely. We can also see the social positioning encoded. The "Fisher Girl" image catered to a certain societal view of women's roles. She’s passive and positioned alongside a captured animal – symbolizing domesticity, possession, and maybe even some implied control. The print is a fascinating artifact reflecting societal norms of the time and what appealed to a particular consumer base. Editor: This "innocent" collectible card, then, speaks volumes about gender, class, and cultural appropriation at the height of imperial power, which becomes an uncomfortable reminder that visual culture is rarely neutral. Curator: I concur, a layered artifact—the perfect intersection for considering the history and power inherent within visual representation. Editor: Yes. Thank you; it provides another insight for understanding how advertising and cultural values have always shaped and misshaped our world.