Mlle. Levaillaut, from the Actresses series (N203) issued by Wm. S. Kimball & Co. 1889

Curator: Here we have "Mlle. Levaillaut," a photograph printed in 1889 by William S. Kimball & Co., as part of the Actresses series, now residing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. What are your initial thoughts? Editor: She looks like she's about to tell me I parked in the wrong spot. Seriously, there's something so sassy and self-assured in her pose; arms akimbo, like she owns the place. It's amazing to get that from such a small image, a carte de visite almost. Curator: Absolutely. And there's a deeper symbolism at play, I think. These cards were, of course, promoting cigarettes, but the choice of actresses wasn't random. Actresses in that era were both celebrated and slightly scandalous figures; representing modernity but also challenging Victorian norms, it plays into shifting cultural values that appealed to the smoker, implying daring, transgression and avant-garde tendencies, however vaguely implied, right? Editor: A little cigarette rebellion! I love that. So she represents cultural rebellion through cigarettes and tiny cards, huh? Although her dress reads like "Sunday chores" but that's maybe part of the rebellion - acting while appearing plain or unnoticeable... she seems really familiar to me. Curator: Indeed. Beyond that, this print also gives nods to Japonisme, which was extremely trendy. This can be found, although a tad ambiguously, in the staging of the photograph and her pose is ever so slightly, vaguely stylized according to those Japanese prints. It gives a feeling of stylish contemporaneity that customers surely understood and felt compelled by. Editor: Interesting, like a portal through pose! If she winked she'd be straight from Kabuki! I never would have seen all that without a nudge. So, taking all this into consideration now she’s like... cultural symbol with cigarettes. My earlier thought about the Sunday Chores must’ve come from these hidden undertones - so commonplace, rebellious but normal at once. It makes a lot of sense, and now I like her more. Curator: These pocket portraits encapsulated broader narratives about societal transformations, and visual art coming to life through the expansion of consumerism! Fascinating to decode their stories after so much time. Editor: Yeah, and the thrill of that initial sass makes so much sense within that framing - such an economical way to express and share ideas!