Dr. James Dwight, Lawn Tennis Champion North of England 1885, from World's Champions, Series 2 (N29) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes 1888

This chromolithograph of Dr. James Dwight was created in 1888 by Allen & Ginter for their series of cigarette cards. Its design uses a small scale and flattened perspective, typical of printed ephemera. The composition is split between the figure and a floating tennis racket. The portrait uses soft, blended colors to convey a sense of realism, yet it remains highly stylized. Notice the sharp lines of Dwight’s cap and the crisp rendering of his mustache, juxtaposed with the hazy, undefined background. The disembodied racket, rendered in a monochromatic palette, lacks depth, emphasizing its symbolic nature. This approach embodies the structuralist notion of signs and signifiers. Dwight, meticulously depicted, signifies the ideal athlete, while the racket acts as a symbol of his profession. The card flattens the complexities of individual identity into easily readable visual codes. Ultimately, the card’s formal qualities—its scale, composition and stylized realism—transform an individual into a set of cultural signs. It is up to us to interpret what these signs communicate about sports, celebrity, and late 19th-century culture.