Steamship Narragansett, Stonington Line, from the Ocean and River Steamers series (N83) for Duke brand cigarettes 1887

Curator: Here we have a chromolithograph, "Steamship Narragansett, Stonington Line," a trade card from 1887 made by W. Duke, Sons & Co. The card was included in packs of Duke brand cigarettes as part of the "Ocean and River Steamers" series. Editor: There's a gentle breeze blowing across the whole scene, wouldn't you say? That young woman staring upwards, a vision… as if yearning for something just out of reach. The colors are subdued but the details—her curls, the flags—almost startlingly vivid. Curator: Right, the design itself cleverly juxtaposes this idealized portrait of a woman and a detailed rendering of the steamship, reflecting aspirations of the Victorian era and the booming trade routes across the water. Ukiyo-e influences can be noted from this era, as well. Editor: It's also quite interesting that the image served as an advertisement, a token included with mass-produced cigarettes. The beauty masks what that says about industrial production and consumerism. How many hands made it to get into circulation like that? The working class paid their wages and some got cancer from this trade. Curator: Well, the production process indeed raises several questions, highlighting a growing interest in material culture studies of ephemera. As the culture becomes more complex and intertwined with trade practices it needs visual codes like beauty to sell it. The Steamship trade card represents the meeting place of marketing and popular aesthetics. It mirrors, on a tiny scale, the desires of an era and questions its industrial nature, or masks it in some instances. Editor: Definitely food for thought as we look more deeply into the image itself and reflect back. Curator: Perhaps the tension in that paradox provides an invitation.