Card Number 755, Miss Perichol, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-5) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cameo Cigarettes 1880s

Editor: Here we have “Card Number 755, Miss Perichol,” part of the Actors and Actresses series from the 1880s, printed by W. Duke, Sons & Co. as a cigarette card. The sepia tones give it a nostalgic air, and the scene, while clearly staged, feels surprisingly intimate. What stands out to you in this portrait? Curator: Oh, the lure of the Gilded Age! What enthralls me most is the layered artifice at play. Here's Miss Perichol, a stage persona captured on a tiny card designed to sell cigarettes. Is it a photograph, a drawing, or something in between? Does that matter? The backdrop is a painterly nod to classicism, yet it feels distinctly modern in its commodification. Notice, too, how her languid pose borrows from both high art and, perhaps, more…scandalous imagery. Editor: Scandalous how? Curator: Well, cigarette cards often traded on veiled eroticism, didn't they? The glimpse of leg, the dreamy expression, all subtly pushing boundaries. Japonisme also seems present in this work – how do you perceive it? Editor: I didn’t catch that at first! Maybe the stylized background or her almost theatrical pose? Curator: Exactly. Think of the Japanese prints that were all the rage then—flat perspectives, decorative patterns, the blurring of lines between reality and performance. Miss Perichol is posing, not just for the camera, but within a whole tapestry of artistic and commercial influences. I wonder if she ever pondered her image plastered on these cards! Editor: It really makes you consider the context and the multiple layers of meaning behind what appears, at first glance, to be a simple portrait. I’ll certainly be looking at cigarette cards differently now. Curator: Exactly! A tiny slip of cardboard can open up a whole world.