Griffin, Center Field, Baltimore Orioles, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1888

Editor: This albumen print from 1888, titled "Griffin, Center Field, Baltimore Orioles, from the Old Judge series," by Goodwin & Company, it seems almost fragile. I’m curious, what does it suggest to you? Curator: This is a fascinating example of the commodification of leisure. Let's look at it materially. We see gelatin-silver print mounted on card stock, produced en masse, not for art's sake, but as a collectible inserted in cigarette packs. These cards weren't about art, but about branding and the production of consumer desire. The image, and the labor required to produce countless copies, serves primarily to drive sales of tobacco. Editor: So it’s not really about the baseball player Griffin, or even photography itself? Curator: Precisely. The portrait serves the means of production of tobacco, using the allure of sport to push product. The very term “Old Judge series” speaks to a constructed sense of nostalgia, associating the modern product with a comforting past. Even the process -- photography's industrial reproduction – echoes the cigarette factory's own mass production. Think about the labor conditions of the factory workers who mass produced the cigarette cards. Editor: So, thinking about it in terms of labor and production, the image is secondary to the capitalist machine. I had considered it an artifact from early sports culture, but its really about consumerism. Curator: Exactly. And questioning that apparent "innocence" opens up avenues of thinking beyond the image's surface appeal. Perhaps there is nothing pure. Editor: I see what you mean. Thank you.