Old Orchard Beach, Maine, from the Surf Beauties series (N232), issued by Kinney Bros. 1889

Curator: The work we're looking at is a print from 1889, a somewhat unassuming yet fascinating card titled "Old Orchard Beach, Maine, from the Surf Beauties series," issued by the Kinney Bros. Tobacco Company. Editor: Immediately, the color palette strikes me. The blues are so vibrant, juxtaposed with the sepia tones that give it a definite sense of nostalgia. It has that wistful air of fleeting summer moments, don’t you think? Curator: Indeed. It encapsulates the burgeoning resort culture of the late 19th century, the increasing leisure time for some and the rise of coastal tourism in the U.S. What I find really telling are the bathing machines in the background, indicating a society navigating new levels of public mixed-gender interactions at the beach. Editor: And how does that feed into our reading of this reclining woman in her striking, sporty blue swimsuit? Is she an icon of liberation, embracing new freedoms? The suit, while modest by today’s standards, suggests movement and ease. She looks relaxed, not really interacting with us as the viewer. She embodies a feeling, almost, of "ocean's rest". Curator: Absolutely. We can consider this an articulation of what modernity looked like—how images shape desires. Here, she embodies the ideal woman. And by virtue of her positioning and direct look at the ocean, a subliminal association between smoking Kinney Bros. Tobacco products, the 'good life' and beauty is made. Editor: It's also interesting to see how the artist employs light, there are very defined lines, like an impressionist photograph, or one captured from an "en plein air" style in its time. Yet at the same time, there’s a certain artifice—this image is clearly constructed to portray an experience rather than merely depict it. Curator: Exactly. It brings up important questions about authenticity, and representation within historical constructions of desire. Consider how tobacco cards, and mass culture broadly, shape public opinion about womanhood and ideal environments, and therefore the world that came to be in subsequent decades. Editor: Looking closer now, the water really gives this piece that 'genre painting' element. She’s really reclining! One has to question how natural this setting is. She almost doesn't mind getting wet by the waves! What do you think it signals? A resistance to high society’s 'strait-laced' expectations? Curator: Perhaps, or at the very least, a gentle push toward embracing pleasure and leisure as signs of having “arrived” socially. It’s remarkable to consider all the levels of narrative woven into such a small, seemingly innocuous, image on a tobacco card. Editor: Ultimately, viewing this artwork and similar examples offer valuable lessons about understanding cultural memory and the long process of shifting societal expectations that is essential to our shared understanding of culture today.