Garnet Joseph Wolseley, from the Great Generals series (N15) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands 1888

Curator: This lithograph print, dating back to 1888, is part of the Great Generals series (N15) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands. It portrays Garnet Joseph Wolseley. Editor: It’s strikingly compact, almost quaint. The redness is immediate. It creates a feeling of, well, imperial certainty, like a perfectly packaged piece of propaganda, which it probably was in some ways. Curator: Propaganda is an interesting angle. As a commercial item designed to promote cigarettes, it undoubtedly promoted certain values, militarism included. But it's also just…look at the pure visuality. The textures created through the lithographic process, especially in his hair and uniform, are what holds my attention. How the artist captures form, shadow, and depth within such a small scale! Editor: Right, it's miniature visual rhetoric! Wolseley becomes this palatable symbol of British power. It’s a visual strategy—appealing and distributing images that equate him with ideas of authority and domination, further complicated by the inherent consumerism through the packaging of it alongside tobacco. Curator: I think that reduction might be the appeal. It creates a very specific aesthetic language—Wolseley’s presence refined into key shapes, colours and lines. Editor: But shouldn’t we consider that very refinement and miniaturization within the broader framework of empire, this idea of condensing people and whole swathes of the world into digestable tokens of ownership, accessible to consumers and further normalizing empire? Curator: Certainly. These weren't neutral depictions; they served specific socio-economic functions. Yet, their formal construction provides avenues to reflect upon cultural and commercial networks. Editor: So, ultimately, a fascinating intersection of commerce, ideology, and aesthetics distilled into a small piece of print. Curator: Absolutely, a tiny token holding considerable visual and historical weight.