Officer, Pawtucket Light Guard, Rhode Island, from the Military Series (N224) issued by Kinney Tobacco Company to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes 1888

Curator: This piece, titled "Officer, Pawtucket Light Guard, Rhode Island," hails from Kinney Tobacco Company's Military Series dating to 1888. These were collectible cards included in packs of Sweet Caporal cigarettes. Editor: It's strikingly formal for an advertisement, wouldn't you say? Almost severe. The limited palette – greys, yellows, reds – creates a kind of restrained tension. Curator: Indeed. Uniforms throughout history project an aura of authority, but they also transmit social values. This man embodies the civic pride, order and duty of that specific social moment. Editor: Those bright colors popping out on the drab background create a focal point. It draws my eyes specifically towards his midsection. It's so centralized with that buckle, sash, sword placement that one has to look and wonder about the meaning. Curator: The symmetry certainly anchors the figure, adding to the stability that these visual forms would signal at a social and historical level. These early examples of chromolithography circulated widely, instilling a sense of national identity in a populace gaining greater access to print media. Editor: Do you think that slightly exaggerated mustache also conveys a subtle psychological undercurrent of confidence bordering on arrogance, or is that projecting too much modern cynicism? Curator: The handlebar mustache does add a touch of distinctiveness, but that may not translate. What appears almost comic now may be more of the conventions of idealized masculine representation back then. Visual languages change drastically and affect what a viewer may bring to the work of art from the present to decode elements that have changed drastically in the past. Editor: So what seems odd can serve as a record for reading different values. Thanks. Now I see the card less as an individual portrait, and more as a sign of social meaning making at large. Curator: Exactly. In the convergence of visual imagery and production of ideology, small images hold immense cultural weight and value.