Card Number 567, Alma Stewart Stanley, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-7) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Duke Cigarettes 1880s

Editor: Here we have a portrait of Alma Stewart Stanley, created by W. Duke, Sons & Co. in the 1880s. It's a card, originally used to promote Duke Cigarettes, and made with albumen-print. It has an appealing vintage aesthetic and gives the impression of luxury because of the attire of the actress. What do you see when you look at it? Curator: Well, what immediately grabs me is not the *art* per se, but the means of its distribution: a cigarette card. It speaks volumes about the late 19th-century's burgeoning consumer culture and how even art became commodified. Think about the laborers involved in tobacco production, the printing processes for these cards – albumen-print photographs mass-produced and given away as a marketing ploy. This challenges our typical understanding of "high art". What sort of message do you think the production implies? Editor: That it makes art affordable? So almost…disposable, in a way? Something consumed like the cigarettes themselves, without a lot of consideration for its value? Curator: Exactly. The materiality of the object – a flimsy piece of card stock designed to be discarded with the cigarette packaging – reveals its true function. The artistry is secondary to its purpose as advertisement, inextricably linked to consumption and the economics of pleasure. And it served to create a need that never existed until then. This blurring of boundaries is important when discussing art, labor, materiality, and how social dynamics of power dictate these processes. Editor: That makes so much sense! So it is both a promotional product *and* a portrait, inextricably linked to consumerism. The actress may also have endorsed Duke Cigarettes? Curator: Precisely. Considering that Alma Stewart Stanley was, likely, hired for that promotional reason; do you believe there are social connotations involved? Editor: The commercial angle certainly reframes how I see it. I suppose it makes me think differently about art and labor, shifting from artistry to product. Thanks for pointing that out!