The Bridal Veil, from the Transparencies series (N137) issued by W. Duke, Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Tobacco 1884 - 1890

Editor: This is "The Bridal Veil," a print and drawing made between 1884 and 1890 by W. Duke, Sons & Co. I notice how the colors seem almost dreamlike and the composition emphasizes the height and drama of the waterfall. What visual elements stand out to you? Curator: Note how the artist segments the pictorial space; a tripartite organization appears bounded on top by an enigmatic band of deep green, and below by foreground vegetation against which the eponymous Bridal Veil cascades in seemingly liquid light. Editor: The use of the phrase 'liquid light' makes the colors appear different to me! I now consider the texture. Can you talk more about its structure and composition? Curator: Observe that verticality reigns: tall crags and slender trees on the left yield to a dramatic, nearly symmetrical waterfall front and center; this division gives way to vertical, geometric forms on the right. Now notice how the foreground frames and thereby invites a close inspection of the artwork’s perspectival ambiguities. What meaning might we extract from these visual juxtapositions and tensions? Editor: The symmetry, framed vista and contrasts that you highlight, make it feel somewhat staged. It feels very constructed. Now that I see how purposefully assembled it appears, my previous dreamy feeling gives way to something more…assertive. Curator: Precisely. Perhaps an insight into its role as advertisement… and the cultural values driving it, for instance, industrialism vs the natural sublime. Considering the formal and material aspects of this commercial artwork reveals how it mediates the intersection of culture and commerce. Editor: I hadn't thought about its intended function, but it really brings out additional meaning once it is framed as part of a bigger picture. Now the organization that once felt random becomes logical through a structural understanding!