Paul Aloysius Hines, Center Field, Washington Nationals, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1887

Curator: Let's delve into this intriguing card from the Old Judge series, featuring Paul Aloysius Hines. This gelatin silver print, dating back to 1887, captures a baseball player mid-action. What catches your eye about it? Editor: It’s amazing how modern it feels, considering the date. It also feels so…casual, even staged. Is there anything you find particularly noteworthy about the image? Curator: The real interest lies in the intersection of industry and leisure. This wasn’t just about documenting a sport. Goodwin & Company used these cards as inserts for Old Judge Cigarettes. It’s about commodification; Hines, a laborer on the field, is transformed into a consumable product, tied to the leisure habits of consumers and the expansion of mass production. Do you see that tension between the artistry and the commerce? Editor: Absolutely. It's fascinating to think about the material conditions of making and circulating this image – the silver, the gelatin, the printing presses, the tobacco industry – and how all of those things influence what we see here. Curator: Exactly. And what about the circulation of these cards? Think of the collectors, the trade networks…each card becoming a small piece of a larger economic and cultural exchange. Who had access to these images, and what did they signify within those social circles? Editor: That's a great point, to think about it as part of that network and who had the resources to access it and who didn’t. I initially thought about it simply as a snapshot of an athlete. Curator: It’s a lens through which we can examine labor, materiality, and consumption, blurring the lines between art, advertisement, and everyday life. Editor: I'll definitely look at these kinds of images with new eyes from now on, considering the deeper connections between art, industry, and consumption. Curator: A new appreciation for materiality changes everything, doesn’t it?