Maud Waldemere, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-7) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Duke Cigarettes 1880s

Editor: This is “Maud Waldemere, from the Actors and Actresses series,” made in the 1880s by W. Duke, Sons & Co., using photography, drawing, and printmaking techniques. It looks like it was an advertisement on a cigarette card! I'm curious about the relationship between commercial art and the art world; what are your initial impressions of this piece? Curator: Well, immediately, I see a collision of worlds, don’t I? The gilded age idea of celebrity portraiture mashed up with… well, cigarettes. And this little Maud, whoever she was, floating on a puff of smoke, so to speak. What does it *mean*? Ah, now there’s the rub, isn’t it? Does her beauty sell smokes, or do the smokes somehow…elevate her? Maybe it’s both, a lovely little tango of consumerism. Editor: Tango of consumerism, I like that! Do you think she had any say in how her image was used? Curator: Oh, my sweet summer child, probably very little. Actresses in that era... They were building blocks. Imagine! Her likeness replicated countless times, tucked into pockets, casually discarded. But now, here we are, a century later, pondering her. Isn't that extraordinary? She lives on, albeit promoting a bygone brand of cigarettes. Editor: So it's about layers of context - advertising, portraiture, and the status of women in the late 19th century. Thank you for pointing that out, I am rethinking my first impression completely. Curator: Exactly! Art, life, even tobacco—it's all just context piled on context. We just keep adding layers, don’t we? Keeps it interesting, wouldn’t you say?