Montevideo, from the City Flags series (N6) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands 1887

Editor: This small lithograph print, "Montevideo, from the City Flags series," created in 1887 by Allen & Ginter, seems to blend national pride with, well, tobacco! The flag and city scene feel…idyllic, almost dreamlike, even on this small scale. What am I missing? Curator: Missing? Perhaps the whiff of commercial enterprise cleverly masked as a little history lesson? The Victorians did love to collect! This little card, tucked into cigarette packs, invites us to gaze upon Montevideo not just as a place, but as a collectible, a desirable image consumed as easily as the product it advertised. It's a packaged dream. The softness in the colours adds to that illusion, doesn't it? Almost a watercolor wash feel achieved in print. It invites you in, wouldn't you say? Editor: Absolutely. It does have that inviting quality. But it's also a little…flat? There's a lack of depth that feels intentional. Curator: Flatness isn't necessarily a flaw, you know. In this case, it adds to its function as an accessible image. Think of it less as a striving for realism, and more of a symbolic snapshot meant to capture the essence of the city. Allen & Ginter are selling the idea of the city. I wonder what the locals thought? Editor: That’s fascinating! I never thought about the symbolism of flattening an image. I tend to think that something of it is 'lost.' It all gives me a whole new way to view the work. Curator: That feeling of loss, it becomes a filter in your own creation. How does that manifest when you approach new artwork? It's lovely, this ongoing exchange and interplay.