Oldring, Philadelphia, American League, from the White Border series (T206) for the American Tobacco Company 1909 - 1911

This is Oldring, Philadelphia, American League, from the White Border series (T206), made by the American Tobacco Company. It has this gorgeous flat, matte surface, and a tight color palette that makes you think about process. The colors are muted, and the marks are evenly distributed. Look at the way the ground is made from these stippled green marks: like pointillism gone haywire! It’s all surface, and no depth, so you can’t fall into the image. The artist wants you to see the thing-ness of the picture and the physicality of the printing. The baseball cap is a perfect example of this approach. It’s rendered as a series of planes with a lot of white space, almost like a cubist painting. I think of Fairfield Porter’s paintings, in which the everyday becomes extraordinary through the simple act of looking. Ultimately, art is always a conversation, and its beauty lies in its openness to multiple interpretations.