President of Costa Rica, from World's Sovereigns series (N34) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes 1889

Editor: This is a peculiar little piece – it’s “President of Costa Rica,” from the “World’s Sovereigns” series, a print from 1889 by Allen & Ginter. The Met tells me it’s some kind of drawing, maybe watercolor, produced as a cigarette card! I find it so striking how this small portrait captures an aura of authority and almost comical flamboyance with the prominent moustache, decorative gold accents on his uniform and ornate red wallpaper behind him. What really catches your eye here? Curator: Oh, this is fantastic! These cards were a wild, beautiful collision of commerce, colonialism, and casual racism packaged as… well, collectible portraiture! Forget dry history paintings; this thing fits in your pocket, sells tobacco, and subtly asserts global power structures. Editor: Racism? How so? Curator: Think about the "World’s Sovereigns" title itself. It’s about cataloging – collecting – figures of power from across the globe. Note the "exotic" backdrop, juxtaposed with the "civilized" Western suit of the president. Who decides who a sovereign *is*? The cigarette company, essentially! What is this, really, but an expression of world power concentrated in one printed form? What’s on the flag? Editor: I see what you mean… It seems to be his country's flag on the top-right, very different style from the wallpaper. Almost looks superimposed… Curator: Absolutely. See that tiny, almost comical sailboat on the emblem there? This image is trying to encapsulate national identity, reducing it to simplified iconography on something that people literally consumed and threw away. We hold onto them now as curious relics. I’d argue they’re actually pretty powerful expressions of something larger than just a cigarette. Editor: Whoa! I never would have thought of it that way! It shows you how much we miss without proper framing and context.