Mlle. Linche, Paris, from the Actors and Actresses series (N171) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1886 - 1890

Curator: The sepia tone really gives it that antique charm, doesn't it? Like peering into a Victorian daydream... Editor: Exactly. What we’re seeing here is a print of Mlle. Linche from Paris, part of the "Actors and Actresses" series put out by Goodwin & Company for Old Judge Cigarettes between 1886 and 1890. This piece resides at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It's amazing how advertising imagery embeds itself into art history. Curator: It’s like a pocket-sized fantasy! She is perched on this...rock? A very petite throne. And those stripes, divine. The oversized floral headpiece almost teeters! Does anyone even perch like that anymore? I get a sort of mischievous Marie Antoinette vibe, perhaps before things took a tumble… Editor: Yes, she's poised, but it also highlights a moment of relative leisure and also accessibility given how she is styled in the context of promotional material. Think of the historical context; advertising was really hitting its stride, pushing idealized images of femininity hand-in-hand with burgeoning consumer culture. Consider, too, who had access to see images of women like Mlle. Linche. These objects reveal who advertisers are marketing toward, who has agency, and also point to issues surrounding labor as cigarette factories, for example, disproportionately targeted poor, rural white women as their labor force. Curator: Interesting, the cigarette link makes you see it in an altogether different light. The overall effect now feels slightly bittersweet. Was this Mlle. Linche fully aware of her own commodification? She seems…aware but contained, with her half-smile. So complicated. The lightness almost conceals its weight. Editor: Absolutely, and those small paper cards like these were ephemeral items but became powerful carriers of social ideology, setting standards for beauty, desire, and aspiration. Mlle. Linche herself probably had a lot less agency than that coquettish gaze lets on. The medium and marketing tell as much a story as the woman. Curator: So much conveyed within a humble photograph-turned-print used to sell cigarettes, isn’t it? Makes you wonder how the next generation will interpret our throwaway imagery… Editor: It certainly does. Thinking critically about how such imagery shapes societal perceptions remains just as critical today.