Corinth, from the Ballet Queens series (N182) issued by Wm. S. Kimball & Co. 1889

Curator: Welcome to the gallery. I want to draw your attention to a captivating print from 1889: “Corinth, from the Ballet Queens series,” produced by Wm. S. Kimball & Co. It's a colored pencil drawing, part of a series of trade cards distributed to promote their tobacco products. Editor: Oh, this is delightful! At first glance, the vibrant colors jump out – that bright red coat paired with the turquoise breeches. It gives off such a playful, theatrical vibe. And the figure has a real presence despite the diminutive size. Curator: These cards served a dual purpose. Beyond advertising, they provided small glimpses into contemporary culture, including theatrical performances and, yes, even idealized versions of the performers themselves. Ballet was experiencing something of a popular resurgence. Editor: Interesting that they used ballet, then, as a vehicle to, I assume, attract a largely male audience? How were these images consumed, I wonder, and what fantasies or expectations were they meant to ignite regarding gender and performance? This performer’s pose feels rather defiant! Curator: Absolutely. While ostensibly promoting tobacco, these cards reveal much about the period's societal values. The male figure, though somewhat androgynous in appearance by our standards, adheres to established theatrical norms. This allows for both promotion and reinforcing particular images of class and gender. The material itself—color pencils and printing—also speaks to mass production. Editor: Right. Think of the kind of democratization of art—or at least images—at play here. And democratization of certain ideas and concepts: masculinity, performance, identity. It challenges the assumed hierarchies of fine art. I'm now considering this from the viewpoint of a contemporary artist using similar strategies of mass production to reach wider audiences and challenging those conventions of gendered performance. Curator: That's an insightful observation. The circulation of these images through everyday commerce blurred those very boundaries. This specific ballet genre and related aesthetic ultimately reinforces socio-cultural notions of acceptable representations while simultaneously introducing a previously unknown or unappreciated form to the common public. Editor: So even within what feels like a very contained, prescribed aesthetic, we can still glean so much about that era's relationship with identity, performance, and how the very consumption of images reinforced a web of assumptions. Curator: Precisely. The intersection of commerce and artistic expression often yields some very unexpected insights. Editor: Absolutely! A beautiful snapshot that tells such a multifaceted story. Thanks for unpacking that, this little promotional object definitely has a lot to say.