William Ellsworth "Dummy" Hoy, Center Field, Washington Nationals, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1888

Editor: So this is “William Ellsworth 'Dummy' Hoy, Center Field, Washington Nationals," a gelatin-silver print from 1888 by Goodwin & Company. It's really striking how this photo, seemingly celebrating an athlete, is actually printed on a cigarette card. What should we make of that? Curator: Indeed. Think about the means of production here. Goodwin & Company was capitalizing on two growing industries: baseball and tobacco. This card wasn't intended as high art; it was a promotional object, distributed with cigarettes to boost sales. How does the original function of a commodity impact your appreciation of the picture? Editor: That's interesting. So the image itself is almost secondary to its role as a marketing tool? Curator: Precisely. The "Old Judge" cigarette brand and the image of Dummy Hoy are intertwined in the economy of leisure and consumption of the late 19th century. Look closely at the reproduction process, gelatin-silver printing, and the mass production this enables. Think of the laborers involved. Does it shift your perception of the portrait itself? Editor: Definitely. I was initially focusing on Hoy, the athlete, but now I'm seeing the picture as a product of its time, a piece of industrial output designed to fuel consumer culture. It’s kind of unsettling, almost manipulative. Curator: The seemingly simple image contains layers of social and economic context. We are implicated in the commodity fetish and circulation too. Today we view the image divorced from that primary experience of consumption. Consider that these kinds of mass produced images shaped celebrity culture as well. Editor: It really highlights how art can be embedded in complex systems of production and consumption. I’ll definitely think twice about how art objects operate within broader economic landscapes now. Curator: Exactly, seeing the material conditions and intentions changes everything.