Bedouin, from Types of Nationalities (N240) issued by Kinney Bros. 1890

Editor: So this is "Bedouin, from Types of Nationalities" a print drawing by Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company, dating to 1890. The, uh, depiction...strikes me as pretty heavily stereotyped, especially with that little cigarette hanging out of his mouth and the awkward poem at the bottom. How do you even begin to unpack something like this? Curator: Oh, dive right in, why don't we? It's a swirling vortex of cultural projections, isn't it? These trade cards were like miniature stages for fantasies about the 'exotic'. The publishers certainly banked on widespread Orientalist fantasies—the “Bedouin” conjures this supposedly free-roaming, romantic figure of the desert, distilled through a Western, commodifying lens. That 'sweet caporal', the smile, they're all part of the pitch, selling not just tobacco but an identity. It's potent and disturbing, no? How does that blatant commodification sit with you? Editor: Super uncomfortably! It’s like they’re using a whole culture to sell a product through really lazy caricature. But I’m still trying to grasp the bigger picture of Orientalism itself. Curator: Think of it as a vast, often unconscious, performance. European and American artists and marketers staged the “Orient” as this space of alluring danger, sensuality, backwardness… Anything but real. It reinforced the sense of Western superiority, all while lining pockets. What elements strike you as the most performative or staged here? Editor: Definitely the weird poem; it almost feels like an inside joke. Curator: Exactly! It simultaneously mocks and romanticizes, neatly tying the stereotype with the tobacco brand. It's cynical and masterful, a terrible combination. Editor: It really brings a different, and much darker, light to those antique advertising cards you see. Curator: Precisely. And that discomfort, that awareness? That’s exactly where the learning begins.