Cigarettes? 1938

Curator: Instantly, I'm struck by a mood of shadowed elegance, perhaps with a touch of underlying tension. There’s something dramatic in the stark blacks and whites. Editor: Indeed. What we're looking at is "Cigarettes?" a woodcut created in 1938 by Gladys Marguerite Wilkins Murphy. It immediately speaks to the art deco style, with its heavy figuration and its embrace of printmaking techniques. Curator: The title paired with the imagery places us squarely in a space charged with the glamour and potential dangers that were symbolized by smoking during this period. The almost ritualistic quality to it… like the sharing of a cigarette embodies a deeper connection, or perhaps a shared secret. Editor: Exactly! Think of the context – the late 1930s, anxieties brewing before the war, a sense of impending change… The visual language here becomes quite compelling. The repeating fan motifs become claustrophobic when considering this pre-war setting. There's an attempt at grandeur in this imagined performance of elegance, the set almost overtaking the actors. Curator: The repetition in this woodcut definitely lends itself to symbolic interpretation. Those sharp angles, and how they contrast with the curves of the figures… it almost feels like the setting, both stage and set pieces, become masks, veiling the figures within and distorting an authentic reflection of the emotional world. Editor: Right. Murphy here employs this vocabulary of printmaking to depict a distinctly modern subject – the performance of femininity within spaces dictated by socio-economic constraints. Note the figures in the back appear to be male presenting while wearing almost ballet-like attire. What might their gender and roles within this tableau be representing? Curator: A fluidity in performance? This is all artifice—the clothes, stagecraft, even smoking a cigarette itself—and perhaps the gender expression is no less genuine than the cigarette being offered to another member of the viewing audience. I feel compelled by the almost cynical delivery of "Cigarettes?", questioning all these performances within the viewing frame. Editor: Absolutely. This isn't merely an image; it’s a cultural document, providing insight into how individuals navigated performative aspects of daily life and constructed meaning from them within these constructed social stages. A simple exchange, imbued with layers of social, psychological, and theatrical meanings, captured with the graphic boldness of the era. Curator: I agree. There's a quiet revolution occurring through art in plain sight! The artist is speaking of societal roles being actively performed, which leaves me questioning my own sense of expectations on social and gender roles, today and during this historic moment. Editor: A valuable consideration when looking at how artists grapple with representing cultural performance, indeed.