Mullet, from the series Fishers and Fish (N74) for Duke brand cigarettes 1888

This small card was printed by Knapp & Company, for Duke brand cigarettes. Its physical being reflects the economics of mass production: lithography allowed for cheap, color images to be printed at scale and included in cigarette packs. While the design looks hand-painted, it's pure industry. Just think of the skilled labor required to cut the printing stones, and the industrial process of printing, repeated thousands of times over. The caricature itself flattens the fisherwoman into a smiling stereotype, reducing the real labor of fishing to mere picturesque leisure. The card stock is thin, cheap, and ephemeral. Yet here it is, over a century later, a testament to the way that even the humblest of materials can carry complex cultural meanings. It reminds us to look closely at the material realities that undergird even the most seemingly frivolous images.