Cranberry, from the Fruits series (N12) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands 1891

Curator: Oh, my, it's quite charming in an unsettling way, wouldn't you say? Editor: Right? Allen & Ginter's 1891 "Cranberry" card from the "Fruits" series… Look at the details of the cigarette card; it’s at the Met, right here! A miniature portrait married to consumer culture. It's fascinating. Curator: The young girl emerging, perhaps from within a flurry of confectionary sugar… or cotton batting? Is she the cranberry incarnate? Or simply an endorser in lace and frills? It has an otherworldly quality about it! Editor: Absolutely. The paper, the printing process, the very *idea* of collectible cards inserted in cigarette packs! Think of the targeted demographics: the burgeoning middle class, disposable income, and a hunger for… novelty. Curator: Novelty bordering on bizarre! And that sprig of cranberries – so starkly realistic against her dreamy visage. It’s almost as if she’s offering it, a precious, slightly tart gift. Or perhaps a warning? Editor: A little, pink-cheeked advertisement for winter produce... and addiction. Note the detail; lithography allowed for vibrant colour. These cards weren’t "fine art," but everyday material circulated, handled, collected, discarded. Curator: Tell me, what’s the labour situation behind these cards. Mass production obviously required specialized skill and factories, but at what scale are we talking about, really? I bet it was some Dickensian workplace. Editor: Exactly! Consider too the labor that went into cultivating and processing tobacco; these goods traveled a global capitalist network that produced a picture perfect and rosy portrait in order to push commodified vices on unsuspecting consumers. Curator: So much packaged innocence. The tension in this tiny rectangle, though, makes one wonder who the consumer really is in this transaction, here in the gallery gazing upon this cigarette card in an era now rid of such insidious product placement. Editor: And for a few pennies! Today it is housed here as some fine piece of art! Curator: Makes me wonder where are my cigarette card portrait in 1891; imagine all the hands I’d be able to cross the borders! Well, fascinating stuff indeed, this strange marriage of commerce and coyness. It all swirls together like cranberry sauce at a winter's feast, and tastes a little bit funny in one's mouth.