Albert R. Lamar, The Macon Telegraph, from the American Editors series (N1) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands 1887

This tiny card, part of a series made by Allen & Ginter, was designed to be included in packs of cigarettes. It features a portrait of Albert R. Lamar, of The Macon Telegraph, a newspaper from Georgia. These cards were chromolithographs, a then-popular color printing technique using multiple lithographic stones, each applying a different color. Imagine the labor involved: an artist creating the image, technicians preparing the stones, and workers running the printing presses. The card’s small size speaks to its function as a collectible, a promotional item circulating within a burgeoning consumer culture. The proliferation of such images reflects the industrialization of both media and leisure. Cheap, mass-produced, and widely distributed, these cards blurred the lines between art, advertising, and everyday life. They were, in essence, a disposable form of portraiture, linking celebrity to the pleasures of tobacco. Considering the card in this way invites us to reflect on how images are made, circulated, and consumed, and the often-unacknowledged labor that goes into their production.