Tartary, from the Natives in Costume series (N16) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands 1886

Curator: Here we have “Tartary, from the Natives in Costume series (N16) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands," a colorful print dating back to 1886. Allen & Ginter were a Richmond, Virginia, tobacco company that issued series of collectible cards, and this particular card is now housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Editor: My first thought is, "Wow, those stripes!" It's like someone put a watermelon through a Victorian filter. The color palette is surprisingly bold and the whole thing feels almost deliberately…stiff? Is "stiff" the right word? Curator: Perhaps 'stilted' is closer to the mark? The figure's pose seems unnatural, evoking theatrical traditions that cast the 'exotic' as spectacle. These cards circulated widely, acting as visual shorthand for entire cultures, distilling complex identities into digestible, often reductive images for Western consumers. The 'Tartar' depicted is generalized; the intent seems more aligned with creating a specific impression than an accurate likeness. Editor: Absolutely. There's a real flattening happening here. It reduces a whole group of people to, well, a caricature in colorful stripes. And that backdrop is laughably generic! Some very basic hills and vague greenery - this "Tartary" is an absolute land of nowhere. Curator: Precisely. The power of such images resided in their capacity to evoke ideas and narratives, perpetuating, even solidifying, perceived differences between 'us' and 'them.' Consider the way that 'Orientalism' operates - and how easily that manifests in commercial ventures. Editor: And I find myself wondering, did anyone ever stop and actually consider where Tartary *was*? Or the vibrant realities it held? Instead, this image presents a flattened, costumed stereotype ready to be consumed right along with that cigarette. Curator: In observing details such as clothing, posture, and color, we decipher messages encoded to solidify the Western gaze, which has lasting impact to this day. The cigarette card as archive - a small rectangle freighted with enormous power. Editor: Absolutely! It makes you think about the power behind even the smallest images and the stories they tell... and the silences they create.