Private, National Lancers, Massachusetts, V.M., from the Military Series (N224) issued by Kinney Tobacco Company to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes 1888

This chromolithograph was made by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes in the late 19th century. It's printed on thin card stock, a substrate that could be produced cheaply and at great speed. The image of a Massachusetts National Guard soldier is rendered with crisp lines and vibrant colors, achieved through the process of lithography, where an image is drawn on a stone or metal plate and then transferred to paper using oil-based inks. The card was just one in a series, attesting to the industrial scale of production. Consider the social context: Cigarette cards were a clever marketing tool, a small token included with each pack, meant to be collected and traded. While the firm may have hired skilled illustrators, the manufacturing process involved a whole factory of workers, churning out millions of these images, feeding a culture of collecting and consumption. The image's value lies not just in its aesthetic appeal, but in its connection to the wider social issues of labor, politics, and the relentless engine of capitalism.