Long Branch, New Jersey, from the Surf Beauties series (N232), issued by Kinney Bros. 1889

Curator: This lovely chromolithograph, titled "Long Branch, New Jersey, from the Surf Beauties series," was printed by Kinney Bros. around 1889. Editor: Ah, she's like a little flame amidst those cool blues and whites. It's an arresting image. Kind of brave, standing there at the surf's edge, staring out, lost in thought… or perhaps about to dive in? Curator: "Brave" is a good word. These "Surf Beauties" cards were included in cigarette packs, so their appearance itself speaks to emerging modern attitudes towards women. Editor: Totally. This woman’s gaze definitely holds a certain...defiance, or maybe self-assurance? Given the time, the image hints at women staking claims to public space, to leisure, to simply existing outside the domestic sphere, something only the very rich could enjoy easily at the time, I imagine. Curator: Precisely! The bathing costume, too, marks a shift. Still relatively modest, yes, but closer to the functionality that sporting apparel would eventually embrace. I find it interesting to read these types of pieces in conversation with contemporaneous shifts within feminist discourse and ideas about womanhood as separate but equal. Editor: Though even then, her curves, that exposed décolletage—it’s all calculated to appeal, to titillate, of course. The way that water laps around her torso… the colors practically radiate off her skin. Curator: Naturally, there are layers here, cultural negotiations aplenty in the business of consumption, class, and gendered performativity. As art, the use of color, particularly that assertive red against the paler tones, does suggest vibrancy, independence, daring. A spirit of hope, if you will. Editor: Absolutely! An open declaration of self in an image. This image is so visually seductive, maybe it can start us all thinking a little more about that, about agency and presentation... Curator: Precisely! Every artwork has an image to offer. Let it sink in.