Three of Diamonds, Tent Pegging, from Harlequin Cards, 2nd Series (N220) issued by Kinney Bros. 1889

Curator: Here we have "Three of Diamonds, Tent Pegging," a print issued by Kinney Bros. as part of their Harlequin Cards series from 1889. The image shows a man on horseback participating in a tent pegging competition, presented in a style that borrows from both impressionism and orientalism. Editor: My first impression is of something whimsical, even cartoonish. The figure is slightly absurd with those bright, solid red diamond shapes and the horse's stylized pose gives it this strange energy. The palette, though muted, contributes to the overall playful, strange affect. Curator: Kinney Brothers were a tobacco company, so these cards were promotional items inserted into cigarette packs. "Tent pegging" itself was a British military sport rooted in colonial India and became a way to display military skill and bravado. This ties it into a much broader history of colonial power and its visual representation in popular culture. Editor: It is fascinating how a semiotic reading highlights how this harmless, playful image, produced for marketing, becomes layered with signifiers of a colonial military apparatus through specific iconographies of power. Curator: Right, the man's uniform is a caricature of military attire, with the colors and embellishments serving as simplified markers of authority, reinforcing imperial ideology for the consumer back home. It speaks to notions of empire as exotic adventures. Editor: If you strip away the sociohistorical context, one might see simply the graphic lines, the playful composition with those red diamonds and the horse—however it is clear, based on our reading of this image in light of colonialism, that this piece speaks directly to historical imbalances and political realities. Curator: Precisely. By understanding the context in which this print was produced and consumed, we see how seemingly innocent images participate in larger power structures and narratives. Editor: This exercise helps to illuminate the potential inherent in objects, no matter how apparently frivolous they seem. There’s always something that you may discover once you choose to really look.