McAleese, St. Louis, American League, from the White Border series (T206) for the American Tobacco Company 1909 - 1911

This baseball card of McAleese from St. Louis was produced by the American Tobacco Company, and it's amazing how much information and atmosphere is packed into such a small surface. It's a lithograph, so you get these flat planes of color, slightly misregistered, and yet there’s also this feeling of depth, especially in the figure of McAleese himself. I love the way the color defines the space, like in abstract painting. The background is a solid, warm yellow, while the foreground is a kind of impressionistic, blotchy green. It's a very economical way of suggesting a field, but to me, it feels as evocative and expansive as a landscape by Monet. Look at the way the figure is rendered, too: the texture of his glove, the way his uniform almost blends into the background. This reminds me of Alex Katz, who similarly understood how to use color and form to create a mood, a moment. And it is a real moment!