Card Number 25, Miss Mitchell, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-2) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cross Cut Cigarettes 1880s

Editor: This is "Card Number 25, Miss Mitchell," from the 1880s, created by W. Duke, Sons & Co. as an advertisement for Cross Cut Cigarettes. It’s a sepia-toned print of a woman. I find it interesting how an image like this was used to market a product. What does this work suggest to you? Curator: Well, let’s consider the conditions of its production and reception. These cards weren't "art" in the high art sense. They were commodities, churned out en masse, and given away to promote the consumption of cigarettes. The image itself—Miss Mitchell—is equally a commodity, her image used to sell another commodity. Editor: So you're saying her portrait isn't really about her, but about the product? Curator: Precisely. And look at the “Cross Cut Cigarettes” printed on the image. The means of distribution are crucial. These images entered homes and social spaces not through galleries or museums, but as part of a tobacco purchase, intimately connected with everyday habits and social rituals of smoking. Editor: That’s a big difference from how we view portraits now. Curator: Exactly! Consider also, the labour involved. The growing and curing of tobacco, the manufacturing of cigarettes, the photographic processes to mass produce these cards. All of these involved vast numbers of workers whose labor made this circulation possible. Can we even disconnect these cards from exploitation of labour in that era? Editor: It puts it in a new perspective! Seeing it not just as a portrait but as part of a complex manufacturing and marketing chain makes you think about what all went into something like this, even something that looks so simple at first glance. Curator: Agreed. This reminds us to critically assess not only the "what" of art, but more importantly, the "how" and "why."