Club Swinging, from the Pretty Athletes series (N196) issued by Wm. S. Kimball & Co. 1889

Editor: Here we have "Club Swinging" from 1889, part of the Pretty Athletes series by William S. Kimball & Co. It's a colour print and drawing featuring a woman in athletic attire. It has such a…unique style. What strikes you most about this piece? Curator: As a print made to sell cigarettes, this "artwork" foregrounds the mass production of images. The image-making itself, then, becomes interesting to consider; how does this appeal to the consumers of this period? Does this elevate this particular mode of production above any of its counterparts? What kind of cultural consumption is being encouraged here? Editor: Cultural consumption… I hadn't thought about that. What can that tell us? Curator: Look at the materials themselves. A drawing transformed into a colored print, meant to be distributed and consumed like tobacco. Notice how it's playing with the notions of sport and the female form. It’s less about artistic skill and more about what desires the image is engineered to fulfill for the consumer. Editor: So, you're saying the artist's intention matters less than the consumer's experience in this case? Curator: Exactly. The *materiality* of this print, its availability, and the cultural context of its consumption are central to understanding its value. It's not about inherent beauty, but about social function within a capitalist system. Editor: That gives me a lot to think about. I will never look at printed ads the same way now! Curator: Wonderful. The power of art, even in its most commercial forms, lies in understanding the mechanisms of its creation and distribution.