American Partridge, from the Game Birds series (N13) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands 1889

Curator: This is "American Partridge, from the Game Birds series (N13) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands," a watercolor and print produced in 1889. What are your initial thoughts? Editor: I immediately notice the smooth, almost waxy feel that printed color can sometimes have, even with watercolors. The whole thing feels geared toward mass production, from the subject matter to the division into framed images. Curator: Yes, this card participates in a whole visual culture surrounding game and hunting, packaged for consumerism. Do you see any symbolic connection between the bird and rabbit imagery displayed? Editor: Well, both are typical game, yes? Though there is more at play with Allen & Ginter than first meets the eye. The framing divides it up so neatly. The guns and ammunition on the one side, prey on the other side, all around a proud but doomed Partridge. Is it to show us abundance or potential success for would-be hunters? Curator: Potentially both? In nineteenth-century American culture, hunting could represent both virility and consumption; however, it has also been connected to anxieties surrounding a vanishing wilderness and critiques of unrestrained commercial activity. Editor: A commentary perhaps of that which will disappear? Mass hunting via mass-produced materials—it creates a visual metaphor for depletion. A simple card hints at so much destruction and its relationship to labor. Curator: And the symbolic weight it accumulates over time grows, as the image echoes not just a moment in American history, but a continuing narrative of resource exploitation. Editor: Absolutely. The materiality points to so much more, like a network spreading out to touch labor conditions, consumer markets, and anxieties about landscape. Thank you. Curator: A compelling perspective on a humble print, illuminating complex cultural dynamics embedded within.