Yellow Shank Tatler, from the Game Birds series (N40) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes 1888 - 1890

Editor: This is "Yellow Shank Tatler, from the Game Birds series" made between 1888 and 1890. It’s a colored-pencil drawing and print on paper by Allen & Ginter. The illustration is beautiful, but it's on a cigarette card which seems like an odd juxtaposition. How do you interpret this work? Curator: Indeed, a curious convergence of the natural world and commercial promotion. Consider the imagery itself. Birds, for many cultures, symbolize freedom, migration, even the soul's journey. The Yellow Shank Tatler, specifically, represents adaptability, thriving in shifting environments. How might these symbolic associations be complicated by the card’s function as advertisement? Editor: So the bird, as a symbol, contrasts with the intent to sell something… to confine or possess it? Curator: Precisely. Cigarette cards often depicted idealized versions of nature and beauty, creating a sense of aspiration. Smoking, by association, could then become intertwined with this vision of freedom and natural harmony. What memories or values were the advertisers hoping to invoke? Editor: I see…almost like a promise that’s disconnected from the reality of the product. A nature scene selling a product that may not align with those ideals. It makes you wonder how people saw this then, and how differently we interpret it now. Curator: Exactly. And note the Ukiyo-e influences. These visual echoes connect to traditions of representing the natural world for a culture steeped in different social mores. Advertising suddenly becomes a study of cultural memory and yearning. Editor: That gives me a lot to consider about advertising's power and reach, even in something as simple as a cigarette card! Curator: Yes, everyday objects are ripe with encoded meanings that shift and evolve. We see traces of yesterday in everything around us.