Tasmania, from the Types of All Nations series (N24) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes 1889

Curator: This striking portrait comes to us from a series of cigarette cards, created in 1889 by Allen & Ginter. It's part of their "Types of All Nations" collection, and it depicts a man from Tasmania. Editor: It’s fascinating how something so small can feel so loaded. There’s a definite intensity to his gaze. And the coloring – all these warm browns and yellows – gives it a kind of sepia-toned, almost nostalgic feel, despite probably not meaning to be. Curator: Cigarette cards were essentially miniature works of art, popular for their portraits but used primarily to stiffen cigarette packs. They inadvertently captured prevailing societal views. The very title of the series—"Types of All Nations"—implies a desire to categorize and define people based on origin, a very common social project in late 19th-century imperialism. Editor: That inherent desire to classify—to fix identity into a consumable object—is unsettling. And the way the Tasmanian man is represented within this frame is important. It's more than a picture; it embodies ideas circulating about otherness. His gaze might seem direct, but within this context, it's carefully constructed. Curator: Precisely. There's a palpable sense of "othering" here, a Western gaze imposed on a Tasmanian subject. His physical features are emphasized and distilled down into readily understood markers of cultural difference within an imperial framework. I'd be curious to learn how the imagery reflected in prints relates to ethnological discourse during that time. Editor: Absolutely, this card is much more than an innocent image. It speaks volumes about how people from Tasmania were viewed, consumed, and ultimately, how they were controlled in that colonial era. These trivial objects have immense value as a historic tool for teaching difficult issues about colonialism. Curator: A valuable piece that embodies the complexities of cultural representation. Editor: A tiny token packed with visual power.