Thompson, Right Field, Philadelphia, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1887

Curator: The subdued tonality lends a melancholic air, wouldn't you agree? A sort of wistful longing hangs about the figure. Editor: This is "Thompson, Right Field, Philadelphia," from the Old Judge series (N172), produced by Goodwin & Company around 1887. It’s a gelatin silver print. Curator: Notice the player’s stance; casual, yet conveying power and anticipation. The slightly blurred lines, almost impressionistic, add a dynamism despite the stillness. Editor: I think that's interesting, considering these cards were included in cigarette packs. Think of the late 19th century obsession with baseball and the booming tobacco industry intersecting. They utilized players' images to further cement these habits to mass markets. These were tools used for both consumerism and celebrity-making, of a particular brand of white, masculine athleticism. Curator: From a purely aesthetic view, this portrait utilizes classic triangular composition, placing emphasis on the player as the apex of an athletic monument. And in looking at baseball here, we are reminded of ideals about success, ambition, or social standing within specific historical contexts. Editor: Right. This idealized vision hides labor exploitation, racial discrimination, class divides. While baseball became mythologized as a level playing field for anyone who was willing to work hard, this narrative conveniently left out people who were systematically shut out from access to opportunity. It’s a portrait that reinforces these narratives. Curator: Yet the beauty lies in the formal structure and expressive, soft photographic processing... capturing something deeper than its ostensible subject matter, perhaps a universal ideal that is being evoked through these dynamic poses? Editor: Maybe we can view art such as this one through the context of its time to analyze underlying meaning within the construction and propagation of cultural myth-making? Curator: Perhaps so, we both can appreciate, nonetheless, how this one card from so long ago is continuing to make us look, and look closer, even now.