Wolf Fish, from the series Fishers and Fish (N74) for Duke brand cigarettes 1888

Curator: Here we have a fascinating piece of ephemera: "Wolf Fish, from the series Fishers and Fish," made around 1888 by Knapp & Company. It was created as a promotional lithograph for Duke brand cigarettes. Editor: It’s so bizarre, yet charming. The figure seems strangely out of proportion with an oversized head. The color palette is gentle. Curator: These cards were designed to be collected. This one is part of a set anthropomorphizing different fish. Consider what these images project about societal views and anxieties concerning gender roles, labor, and leisure. Cigarettes themselves had potent associations with ideas of the modern woman in this period. Editor: The material itself – the inexpensive color lithography – reveals a mass-production context. This wasn't meant to be “high art”, but rather something disposable, though some evidently kept it. Curator: Absolutely. We might think about it now within a framework of consumption and consumer culture, particularly given the product it advertises, something widely recognized now to have serious health risks. Who was the intended audience for these cards, and what sort of message did these images convey? Editor: Also, the materiality contributes to the reading of humor – the lithograph rendering adds a certain visual absurdity, heightening the satirical tone, poking fun perhaps at both the fisher and the fish. There's an element of craft here, too, albeit industrialized craft. Curator: Definitely. It raises so many questions about how social commentary gets embedded even in seemingly lighthearted images. This period experienced rapid changes across different echelons, which are recorded even in this object. Editor: It speaks to the very complex interrelations between materials, production, and marketing. To hold this in one’s hand offers direct material connection with that past. Curator: Precisely. Engaging with this artwork underscores the degree to which historical understanding and material analysis combine. Editor: It brings together a kind of accessible engagement for understanding past cultural attitudes in unexpected ways.