Deer, from Quadrupeds series (N41) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes 1890

This is a lithograph of a deer, created by Allen & Ginter for a series of cigarette cards. It was produced in the United States during the late 19th century, when the country was undergoing rapid industrialization and westward expansion. The image connects to a romanticized vision of the American frontier, one where man and nature were in direct competition. The hunter, perched in his tree stand, is a visual code for the domination of the natural world that was so much a part of the American mythos at the time. Note how the deer is presented in isolation, posed like a specimen, perhaps for scientific study. These cigarette cards were aimed at middle and upper class consumers, reinforcing ideas about sport, leisure, and national identity. To fully understand this image, you would need to delve into advertising history, consumer culture, and environmental history, all fields that help us understand the ways images shape our understanding of the world.