King of Montenegro, from World's Sovereigns series (N34) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes 1889

This small card was printed by the Allen & Ginter company, sometime in the late 19th century, as a promotional insert for their cigarettes. The image of the King of Montenegro, along with other world leaders, would have been chromolithographed – that is, printed using multiple layers of ink from lithographic stones. The flatness and the graphic style are both results of this method. But the card also speaks to the mass-production of images in general, and the global reach of both imperialism and capitalism. Consider the labor involved: from the cultivation of tobacco, to the making of ink and paper, to the distribution of the final product. While small in scale, this card is a potent reminder of how images can be used to promote not only products, but also ideologies. What we might dismiss as a piece of ephemera, actually reflects a complex network of materials, processes, and power relations.