Plate 42, from the Fans of the Period series (N7) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands 1889

This small printed card, by Allen & Ginter Cigarettes, is part of a series called "Fans of the Period". It’s a chromolithograph, a color printing process that became popular in the late 19th century. Look closely, and you’ll notice the way the image is constructed from tiny dots of color. Chromolithography allowed for mass production of colorful images, but required skilled labor to create the printing plates, one for each color. These cards were produced as promotional items, included in cigarette packs. This transformed collecting and advertising, making art accessible as a byproduct of mass consumption. What is fascinating here is that the status of the image is ambiguous. It's neither high art nor purely commercial. It occupies a space in between, reflecting the changing landscape of art and consumer culture at the time. The very existence of this card challenges traditional notions of what art can be and how it circulates in society.