A Short History: General William J. Hardee, from the Histories of Generals series (N114) issued by W. Duke, Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Smoking and Chewing Tobacco 1888

Editor: This is “A Short History: General William J. Hardee,” a print from 1888 by W. Duke, Sons & Co. It’s actually an advertisement for tobacco, incredibly enough! It's composed of blocks and fragments – portraiture, landscape, and some rather strange ornamental shapes – creating a disjointed impression. How do you interpret the layout and imagery? Curator: Let us begin by considering the picture plane itself. Notice how the composition fragments reality into discrete, almost arbitrary units. The eye is denied a single focal point. It jumps from Hardee’s somber portrait to the repetitive decorative elements and then to the soldier running in the landscape. The visual field mimics the fragmented nature of memory itself. What’s more, we have the tension between two-dimensionality and perspective, most notably in the figure holding the rifle, an action and movement at contrast with the medium's attempt to capture a flat, idealized moment. Editor: That's a fascinating perspective. I was so caught up in the literal representation, I hadn't considered the symbolism of the fragmented structure itself! Does the brand name printed anywhere inform your opinion about it? Curator: The brand is another layer, of course, and its presence points toward commercialism. But I am concerned here with the inherent pictorial strategies. How these are put to work irrespective of external referents. Do you see the ways the ornamental patterns around the portrait mimic Hardee's facial hair in their looping curls? It creates another pattern. Editor: Yes, I do! It makes the overall structure far more deliberate and interconnected. Thanks for pointing out the underlying pattern! Curator: You're very welcome. Now you've glimpsed the hidden structures, you will perceive that pictorial syntax informs every artwork.