Canada Grouse, from the Game Birds series (N40) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes 1888 - 1890

Curator: This lovely chromolithograph, titled "Canada Grouse," hails from Allen & Ginter's "Game Birds" series of cigarette cards, dating to around 1890. What strikes you first about it? Editor: Well, immediately I see a distinct visual hierarchy, from the top of the hunting scene, to the almost heraldic center section with the bird, culminating in the commercial tag line, Richmond Straight Cut No. 1 Cigarettes are the Best. The overall impact feels… surprisingly celebratory, even triumphant. Curator: It's interesting you see triumph, considering the implication of hunting. Looking at it materially, these cards were produced through chromolithography, allowing for a vibrancy of color uncommon at the time. Allen & Ginter mass-produced these, giving rise to an interesting intersection of industry, art, and commerce. Editor: Absolutely. The bird itself carries symbolic weight, being the hunted object, yet rendered with careful attention to detail that seems to dignify it. Its very posture – upright and alert amidst swirling plant forms – resists a simple reading of victimhood. Curator: I agree, and that tension, that complex dance of hunter and hunted, links directly to the broader economic machinery at play. Cigarette cards were inserted to stiffen packs, encouraging brand loyalty but simultaneously feeding this visual culture of desirable objects available via industrialized processes. Editor: It's true, you can read it in terms of production—but also the historical depiction of the Grouse: from pre-colonial symbology, which valued birds as intermediaries between the material and spirit world to its fate in this composition on the verge of either survival or the hunter's bag. Curator: I think that hits the heart of this complex little artwork. That commercial artwork taps into really fundamental levels of cultural and individual need is something powerful. Editor: Indeed. It reflects both the aesthetics and values of its era while managing to hint at older, more perennial themes. A fascinating find.