Private, City Guards, Springfield, Ohio, from the Military Series (N224) issued by Kinney Tobacco Company to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes 1888

Curator: Ah, here's a fascinating piece for our military series: a chromolithograph dating to 1888 titled "Private, City Guards, Springfield, Ohio," produced by the Kinney Tobacco Company as a promotional item. It's a fairly straightforward, if somewhat idealized, representation. Editor: The guard's posture projects an image of solemn duty. It's quite a formal composition, even considering its small scale. The limited color palette – the blues and creams - feels very much of its time, too, creating a sort of serene visual, despite its theme of military service. Curator: Considering its origin as a cigarette card, the level of detail is actually rather impressive. Look closely, and you’ll note the intricate detailing on his uniform, particularly the trim and buttons. The choice of lithography, a relatively affordable printing technique at the time, speaks to the nature of mass production and the appeal to everyday consumers. The tobacco companies utilized these artworks as collectible, serialized promotions to increase sales, thus associating military pride with their consumer base. Editor: Absolutely. Notice how the soldier's gaze is averted; he’s looking toward some distant, undefined objective, reinforcing ideas of honor, patriotism and duty in service of country. His somewhat softened facial features seem intended to elicit public sympathy. And the weapon seems symbolic in itself: it’s there but somehow defanged; almost as a theatrical prop rather than a practical object of war. Curator: Right! These cards often reflect romanticized, heroic ideals of soldiery rather than a grittier view of warfare, which in itself is highly interesting when understanding American social values. It attempts to both legitimize and glorify the state militia, which at this time played important roles not only for military intervention, but also social support. Editor: A perfect representation, I think, of how even seemingly minor, mass-produced images can contain weighty, meaningful representations that shape cultural views over time. It's all about seeing beyond the surface and seeing that imagery is just as crafted for effect as material process. Curator: Precisely. And looking into the ways it's fabricated—mass produced as part of a culture of smoking—and how it uses readily available technologies and materials reveals important social relations of production in a growing industrial society. Editor: Quite compelling when one sees the intersections of all these various aspects combined, isn’t it? Curator: Indeed. There's so much depth layered into these unassuming artworks.