Buffalo Bill, from the Celebrities and Prizefighters series (N174) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1887 - 1888

This photographic print of Buffalo Bill, part of a series for Old Judge Cigarettes, captures a moment of manufactured celebrity in late 19th-century America. Notice the hat, an emblem not merely of the Wild West but of a carefully constructed persona. The hat’s broad brim casts a shadow, lending an air of mystery. This motif echoes in the hats worn by figures across time and cultures, from the shepherd Hermes, god of transitions and boundaries, to the wandering hero. The hat is a marker of identity, yet it is also a disguise, a tool to reshape the self. This duality speaks to our collective fascination with transformation, a theme ever present in the theater of life. The image has been conceived to evoke a sense of yearning, tapping into our deepest, most irrational desires. These echoes of cultural memory intertwine, revealing how symbols resurface, evolving through time, each appearance colored by the context in which they are revived.