Card Number 335, Miss Marcom, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-1) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cross Cut Cigarettes 1880s

Curator: Oh, my first thought? It feels… delicate, yet brazen. Like a secret whispered in a crowded room. Editor: That’s a lovely take. We’re looking at "Card Number 335, Miss Marcom," part of the Actors and Actresses series, a trading card from the 1880s issued by W. Duke, Sons & Co. to promote Cross Cut Cigarettes. You can find this card over at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Curator: Cigarettes, huh? Suddenly, the brazenness makes sense! So this tiny portrait—is it photography or drawing or…? It’s kind of blurry, dreamy even. Editor: It’s a print, reproduced from a photograph. These cards were inserted into cigarette packs, small and fairly ephemeral items intended to boost sales and associate actresses with this smoking brand. It’s a very interesting nexus of art, commerce, and celebrity culture of that era. Curator: So Miss Marcom…she's presenting herself, yes, but is also being presented. Look at the details. That almost ethereal dress, the elaborate stage backdrop... And her expression. Knowing she’s tied to selling cigarettes makes it read differently, doesn't it? There is almost something being forced. Editor: Exactly. These images shaped the public's perception of women, particularly actresses. They participated in the larger system that intertwined women's visibility with commerce, defining and sometimes limiting their roles. How much agency do you think Miss Marcom had over her image? Curator: It is hard to imagine she had very much, right? She could embody her characters on stage, maybe feel true to herself then, but this card... it kind of freezes her in a single, marketable moment. It is as though she doesn’t even have breath. Editor: And what do you make of its art-nouveau touches in terms of stylization? Curator: I do enjoy the stylistic flourish but also note that they are sort of generalized...almost copied and pasted, to a certain degree. So this makes me feel almost bad for her, not just existing as the subject of an image for consumerism but also because her real personality can't shine through the way it could have with another art style. Editor: So it really gets at the cultural tensions that created a cult of female celebrity as this card illustrates: marketing pressures and, perhaps, limited female agency to affect the trajectory of their lives and personas. Well, I find it compelling to contemplate what lies beneath a photograph which functions as something of an advertisement and how it reflects cultural values of the time. Curator: Yes, the quiet echoes of big statements like these really gets my imagination flowing, what was captured or couldn't be through art!