Sand Bag Exercise, from the Pretty Athletes series (N196) issued by Wm. S. Kimball & Co. 1889

Editor: Here we have “Sand Bag Exercise” from the "Pretty Athletes" series, created around 1889 by William S. Kimball & Company. It’s a colored pencil drawing reproduced as a print. What immediately strikes me is the... playfulness? The slightly exaggerated features and pose give it a cartoonish vibe. How do you interpret this work? Curator: Ah, yes, playful indeed! It's as if someone took a postcard and whispered a secret onto it. Remember, this comes from an era when images were often about promoting…aspirations. Think about the "Pretty Athletes" title itself. Is it celebrating athleticism, or subtly poking fun at it? Does that corset seem practical? Editor: Good point! The corset *does* seem impractical for exercise. So it’s satire? Curator: Maybe. Or maybe it’s more like…daydreaming. What do *you* think William S. Kimball & Co. are telling us with their dreamy print, Editor? The lady in bloomers is exercising – while still in that corset. She gazes sideways to the world outside her pose, while that strange golden sandbag seems a poor tool. Is she exercising her will, instead? Editor: I hadn't thought about it that way, but I think she may be showing women participating in athletics, which were mostly male sports in the 1890s, while simultaneously having some humor about it. The lady, and us, are sort of in on a visual joke! Curator: Exactly! These small things really echo a time. They remind me to smile sideways. Don't you feel it? I really see her *dreaming.* I'm almost certain. So there you have it: exercise and aspiration, *plus* a joke! It's about being physically fit, but with some fashion. Thanks! Editor: Definitely seeing this in a new light. Thanks for that, I feel so prepared.