Shooting Fish, from the series Fishers and Fish (N74) for Duke brand cigarettes 1888

This is "Shooting Fish" from the series Fishers and Fish, a promotional trading card for Duke brand cigarettes, created by Knapp & Company. Consider the cultural climate that produced this image: tobacco companies using collectible cards to build brand loyalty, particularly among young men. This card, however, presents a curious image, a young girl posed as an angler. Her ruffled cap and red and white dress speak to idealized domesticity, yet she's engaged in a traditionally masculine pursuit. The fish, mouth agape, becomes the object of her gaze and our own. Is she a symbol of innocence, or a knowing participant in the commodification of desire? The image is both cloying and unsettling, inviting us to consider the complex ways gender and commerce intersect in the construction of identity. It reminds us that even the most innocent-seeming images are embedded in social and economic power structures.