Empress Eugenie, from Leaders series (N222) issued by Kinney Bros. 1888

Editor: This is "Empress Eugenie, from Leaders series (N222) issued by Kinney Bros.," a colored pencil drawing and print from 1888. The piece feels a little like a flattened fashion plate, focusing more on presenting Eugenie as a type than a person. How do you interpret this work? Curator: It's interesting that you pick up on that flattened quality. Given its production as a tobacco card, we can read it as deeply embedded in a system of commodity and image circulation, intended to sell not just tobacco, but also a particular vision of leadership and power. Editor: A vision of leadership? Can you elaborate? Curator: Consider who Empress Eugenie was: a woman, a foreigner in the French court, and deeply influential during a period of intense political upheaval. These cards, often collected by men, presented simplified, idealized figures. Note the choice of symbols: a crown, yes, but also specifically feminine attributes. How might the construction of Eugenie's image, and its distribution through tobacco products, tell us about the era’s anxieties regarding gender, power, and class? Editor: So it's less about an accurate portrayal of Eugenie and more about what she represented at the time. Curator: Precisely! The image flattens her complexities, placing her within a palatable narrative of femininity and authority. It invites us to consider how visual culture participates in shaping our understanding of historical figures and their roles in broader socio-political contexts. Who is included, who is excluded, and why? Editor: I never thought about tobacco cards as anything beyond collectibles. Seeing it in this light is fascinating. It changes everything. Curator: Exactly. Every image, even one seemingly as trivial as a tobacco card, holds a wealth of information about the power structures and cultural values of its time. Editor: I'll definitely look at images differently from now on!