John G. Carlisle of Kentucky, from the Presidential Possibilities series (N124) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Tobacco 1888

Curator: Immediately, I'm struck by the…fragility? There’s a sensitivity to this portrait despite its somewhat assertive subject. Editor: Indeed. What you are sensing likely comes from the delicate balance of the medium. This is "John G. Carlisle of Kentucky," one entry in the Presidential Possibilities series created around 1888 by W. Duke, Sons & Co. It's a print, originally intended as a promotional insert in packages of Honest Long Cut Tobacco. Think of the socio-political implications of this particular means for its wide circulation! Curator: Ah, so even art had to hustle back then. The 'Honest' tobacco part has me giggling slightly, especially now. Still, there's something very intimate about it, from the dreamy, impressionistic dab of turquoise behind his head, which almost makes the image look like it glows, to the almost cartoonish- rosy cheek of the man, a sense of his personal history, I wonder what dreams occupied him! Editor: Carlisle served as a US Representative and Senator from Kentucky and later as Secretary of the Treasury under President Cleveland. Understanding the context, those blushing cheeks signal something less innocent and probably much more driven – they are visual markers to be read on a social and political stage that excluded women, of course. How did the system decide on its leader? How did it package and sell that ideal to the masses? What image did men have to construct? It all adds a rather piquant flavor to this seemingly sweet composition, wouldn't you agree? Curator: Absolutely. That dash of color, his gaze...there is real ambiguity now. Before you told me of the original commercial purpose, it felt a lot less guarded. Editor: It becomes much more revealing once you peek behind the marketing of it. This portrait, in fact, captures the tension between a rapidly modernizing America and lingering old power structures and ideas about the "honest" man. And as such, this is much more than mere advertising, I think. It's a concentrated bit of history, pressed between print, tobacco, and ambition. Curator: Like a faded, intriguing dream—or nightmare depending on how it was lived!