The artwork titled “The first smoke. All wrong,” created by Currier and Ives in 1870, is a notable piece from the Romanticism art movement. This caricature humorously depicts the consequences of a young child’s first experience with smoking.
In the artwork, a young boy is seen sitting on a barrel with a distressed expression, holding his head with one hand in discomfort while clutching his stomach with the other. His attire consists of a dark jacket, light-colored pants, and boots. A small pipe can be observed to the left, positioned on another barrel, with a faint trail of smoke rising from its bowl. The boy’s posture and expression evoke a sense of regret, capturing the theme of the folly of youthful experimentation with smoking.