Jem Smith (boxer) from the Old Judge series (N167) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1886

Editor: This is "Jem Smith (boxer) from the Old Judge series (N167) for Old Judge Cigarettes," made in 1886. It looks like a photographic print. It has a sepia tone that feels… old-timey. It's a portrait, a genre scene, capturing a boxer in what looks like a trading card. What jumps out at you? Curator: It whisks me away to a smoky arena, the gaslights hissing, a pugilist ready to dance and weave! But beyond the sepia romance, what gets me is how these ephemera – these small cigarette cards – offered a kind of everyday stardom. These images democratized fame. What does the image say about how society viewed athleticism and celebrity at the time? Editor: That’s interesting… it feels both very formal, with the posed stance, and also quite candid. What's the effect of that contradiction? Curator: Exactly! That tension's the beauty of it, isn't it? They're selling you an image, yes, but it's an image of ruggedness, of discipline… almost a Roman ideal translated to the Victorian era. These trading cards were slipped into packs of Old Judge Cigarettes… do you think the manufacturers thought that smoking would give one those same physical attributes of athleticism and celebrity? Editor: Ha! Probably. Now I am imagining everyone back then trying to bulk up through nicotine! I’ll definitely never look at trading cards the same way. Curator: And that's the magic trick of art, isn't it? To see the world with fresh eyes. This ordinary image then suddenly become an open book for a wide-eyed world.