Miss Deering, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-8) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Duke Cigarettes 1890 - 1895

Editor: Here we have "Miss Deering, from the Actors and Actresses series," a print created sometime between 1890 and 1895 by W. Duke, Sons & Co. as a cigarette card. The sepia tones and the somewhat ethereal pose give it a dreamlike quality, almost like a memory. What do you make of it? Curator: Ah, a fleeting glimpse into a bygone era, isn't it? Immediately, I’m struck by the confluence of art forms—photography masquerading as a drawing, hinting at Japonisme with its flattened perspective. I wonder, was this simply advertising, or something more? Think of it—Miss Deering, an actress, becoming an object of desire through consumer culture. Did this little card, tucked into a pack of cigarettes, hold a subversive power? Did it allow folks to dream beyond their reality? Editor: That's fascinating. I hadn’t considered the social impact of a cigarette card. I guess I was more focused on the artistic influences. Curator: And that’s valid too! It mirrors the Ukiyo-e prints with its subject and ephemeral nature; the everyday elevated. These cigarette cards offered little windows to faraway lands, both real and imagined. Is that a set of fairy wings I see? Editor: They do appear to be! It feels a bit contradictory to have that ethereal touch linked to something as mundane as cigarettes. Curator: But that contrast *is* the magic, isn't it? The blurring of boundaries, the collision of high art and low culture, of aspiration and consumption. Makes you think about what we consume and what consumes us in return! It's the sort of collision that reveals what the dreams of people actually are! Editor: You've definitely given me a new way to appreciate something that seemed pretty simple at first glance. Thanks! Curator: My pleasure! Art’s like a cosmic joke, always winking, always demanding we look twice…or perhaps take a puff, metaphorically speaking, of course.