Black and Tan Terrier, from the Dogs of the World series for Old Judge Cigarettes 1890

Editor: Here we have a 'Black and Tan Terrier' from the 'Dogs of the World' series, printed around 1890 by Goodwin & Company. It's a colored-pencil drawing, quite small, really. What strikes me is its almost clinical precision; it’s less about capturing personality and more about...identification. What do you see here? Curator: The image, divorced from the actual animal, elevates the dog into a symbol. What do these 'Dogs of the World' represent in this historical context? Beyond breed identification, there's a strong cultural current: late 19th-century obsession with categorization, and defining hierarchies. Editor: So the act of cataloging elevates the dog breed itself to a...cultural signifier? Like a family crest, perhaps? Curator: Precisely. It's more than just a dog, isn't it? The starkness and deliberate precision you noted speaks to a desire to control and codify nature itself. Even the colors; a stark black and tan, reinforce this concept of order and clarity, a symbolic separation from chaos. Editor: I didn’t even consider that aspect of it – the way it tries to put the natural world into boxes, so to speak. I was stuck on thinking about this piece as a portrait. Curator: These images are almost like talismans, visual shorthand for complex societal values that the buyer might want to ascribe to themselves. How might the intended owner use or misuse this symbolism? That’s what truly animates the artwork, even now. Editor: I see. So it's about status, belonging...even a type of visual branding of one’s self, reflected through this carefully constructed image of a dog? Food for thought, indeed!