Card Number 40, Miss Hall, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-6) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Duke Cigarettes 1880s

This card featuring Miss Hall, dating from around 1900, was printed by the cigarette company Duke Sons & Co. as one of a series of promotional images. Unlike paintings or sculptures, these cards were designed for mass production, aligning them closely with the era’s burgeoning consumer culture. The card's sepia-toned image, printed on thin cardstock, doesn't attempt the illusionism of fine art. Instead, it’s a straightforward reproduction, meant to be collected and traded, not contemplated in a gallery. The portrait shows Miss Hall adorned in a high-collared dress, but the real subject is the aspirational lifestyle cigarettes were supposed to represent. While the card itself has little intrinsic material value, its significance lies in its context. It reflects the rise of advertising, the cult of celebrity, and the increasingly blurred lines between art, commerce, and everyday life. It serves as a reminder that the meaning of an object can be found not only in its aesthetic qualities, but in the industrial processes that brought it into being, and the social forces that gave it currency.