Actress wearing hat with pink flowers and blue bow, from Stars of the Stage, Fourth Series (N132) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Tobacco 1892 - 1893

Curator: This charming piece is from a series called "Stars of the Stage" dating from 1892-93, by W. Duke, Sons & Co., and it was printed as a promotional item for Honest Long Cut Tobacco. It is entitled, "Actress wearing hat with pink flowers and blue bow." Editor: It feels like such a relic of a bygone era. The soft colors and that extravagant hat give her an air of poised femininity. Curator: It’s really a fascinating example of how consumer culture intersected with popular entertainment and representations of women in the late 19th century. Actresses were among the first women to achieve a certain level of public recognition and influence, and these cards were designed to capitalize on their popularity. Editor: Absolutely. You see how the printmaking process lends itself to mass production and consumption. There is the drawing combined with print; what’s fascinating is that a working class demographic, drawn to inexpensive tobacco products, also had access to imagery and style trends of women who represented stage celebrity, wealth, and status. What a juxtaposition of production and the aspirations it sparked! Curator: That intersection speaks volumes about societal perceptions of labor, gender and celebrity at the time, as well. These cards circulated images of these performers—they’re constructed, performative images, literally framed by commerce. How the system reinforces power dynamics, using representations of femininity to move products and solidify class positions. Editor: I see these cards, as objects, having more heft than merely just promotional images. Looking closer I can see how labor is actually infused within this object—how class aspirations become quite a sticky idea within capitalist structures! I find the visual process very fascinating and very telling. Curator: I agree. When we look through this lens we confront not only our gaze, but the history and materiality of images in creating, and shaping identity. Editor: Ultimately, it is these items that tell so many rich stories, if we are willing to interrogate them through the framework of labor. Curator: Agreed, by investigating historical images such as this, and teasing out the social narrative we enable greater understanding, allowing viewers a broader interpretation of the relationship between art and culture.