Officer, Providence Marine Corps Artillery, Rhode Island, from the Military Series (N224) issued by Kinney Tobacco Company to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes 1888

Curator: Oh, he's all starch and steel, isn't he? Very stiff. Editor: Indeed! Here we have a chromolithograph titled "Officer, Providence Marine Corps Artillery, Rhode Island," dating back to 1888. It's from a series of military figures produced by Kinney Tobacco Company. Curator: Tobacco! See, the semiotics are rich! The officer, a symbol of authority and order, becomes a tool to promote a product of vice. How clever, in its time. What does he represent about late 19th-century masculine identity? Is it about patriotism? Discipline? Editor: It certainly points to that cultivated, militarized image. But I find myself focusing on the printing process itself. Consider the layering of colors required to achieve this level of detail. Each layer is a separate pass through the press, which means manual labor, material costs...all for something disposable, ultimately destined to be discarded with the cigarette pack. Curator: Discarded, yes, but the image remains, embedded in the cultural memory! Notice the colors; the use of blue evokes notions of loyalty, steadfastness. And the red sash around his waist? That signifies bravery, blood, valor. All strategically used for maximum impact on the viewer, a visual language to stir up certain feelings about manhood and military might. Editor: True, and if we think about the consumption of these images... were they collected? Traded? Or simply glanced at before being tossed away? How did this mass production change the very definition of "art," democratizing access to images while simultaneously cheapening their value? Curator: Exactly! This points towards how even these everyday artifacts are part of shaping and maintaining broader cultural myths. Editor: It's quite amazing when you really consider how many steps it took to produce these small pictures, given their purpose. Curator: The layers of intention are endless. Thank you for making that process feel more palpable!