Edinburgh, from the City Flags series (N6) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands 1887

Editor: Here we have "Edinburgh, from the City Flags series (N6)" created around 1887 by Allen & Ginter, a small lithograph print. I’m really struck by the composition. It’s like a landscape painting on a flag. How do you interpret this work? Curator: Formally, we must consider the work as a designed object first and foremost. Its compact dimensions suggest a collectible card, likely inserted into cigarette packs. The chromatic scale employed here, with its subtle gradations, seeks to evoke a particular atmosphere. How does the artist deploy colour to distinguish the separate planes? Editor: It looks like lighter colors and more sparse marks are used to signify depth. It’s a very dreamy scene despite being of a real place. Curator: Observe the strategic use of line to delineate form. The artist makes use of both bold contour and subtle hatching techniques to create a semblance of depth and dimensionality. Do you find any tension or harmony in this layering of image and flag? Editor: Harmony, definitely. The flag creates a border within a border. Curator: The fringed edge of the flag serves as a frame, drawing our gaze inward to the detailed cityscape. The textural interplay between the flag’s smooth expanse and the built environment introduces a pleasing visual complexity, does it not? Editor: I agree. I now see the meticulousness with which even such a small piece was composed. It is a functional advertisement transformed into something more, maybe art. Curator: Precisely! Considering how the formal components work together allows us to think more deeply about function, context and intention. Editor: It certainly changes the way I view seemingly simple images. There's more than meets the eye!