Thomas H. Humphrey, Champion Juvenile Roller Skater, from the Champions of Games and Sports series (N184, Type 1) issued by W.S. Kimball & Co. 1887

Curator: Oh, look at this, will you? This is "Thomas H. Humphrey, Champion Juvenile Roller Skater" from 1887. Part of the "Champions of Games and Sports" series put out by W.S. Kimball & Co. It's a print, originally a coloured-pencil drawing. Editor: It’s wonderfully odd, isn’t it? A cigarette card turned sporting portrait! The juxtaposition of the intense face with those tiny skating figures below – it’s almost dreamlike. Slightly melancholic, I think. Curator: Exactly! These cards were inserted in cigarette packs, little advertisements doubling as collectibles. Think about it – sports, youth, aspiration all bundled with a product now recognized as harmful. Editor: Talk about cultural contradictions. And the style – a foot in both the impressionistic and Ukiyo-e camps, if you ask me. The texture suggests soft pencil strokes, yet there's something inherently "printed" about the colors, something detached. Curator: Definitely, it reveals the hierarchies present. Kimball used popular figures to create desire around his product. To build his brand as a masculine marker of leisure and privilege, if you consider who could afford these. Editor: Which makes it kind of unsettling to consider now. Seeing this cherubic face gazing out, unaware of the layers of cultural baggage it carries. The innocence and possibility alongside such market exploitation. It brings together commerce and artistry in a rather… disquieting package. Curator: And also quite thought-provoking, that a commercial item would become a portal into these other spheres! Highlighting not only material culture but our value system. How does this intersect? Where does it diverge? Editor: I suppose that tension is exactly what keeps us looking. It holds a bittersweet resonance about this young skater's forgotten stardom and about what, even then, America believed in, valued, marketed. Thanks, Champion Humphrey!