Annie Livingston, from the Actresses series (N245) issued by Kinney Brothers to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes 1890

This is a promotional card of Annie Livingston from the Actresses series, created by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company to market Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. These cards were a product of their time, reflecting the late 19th-century’s obsession with celebrity and the burgeoning advertising industry. This card is particularly evocative, showing Livingston in a theatrical costume that both empowers and objectifies her. As a performer, she challenges the norms of Victorian womanhood, yet her image is also commodified to sell cigarettes. It invites us to consider the complex roles women played in public life and popular culture. Were they breaking boundaries or reinforcing them? It is a question that continues to resonate today, as we grapple with issues of representation and the gaze. How do we navigate these contradictions and reconcile the empowerment with the exploitation?