Miss Summerville, from the Actresses series (N203) issued by Wm. S. Kimball & Co. 1889

Curator: This is “Miss Summerville, from the Actresses series (N203)” issued by Wm. S. Kimball & Co. in 1889. It’s currently part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection here in New York. Editor: Oh, fascinating! At first glance, the theatricality of it strikes me. Her pose is so staged, the fringe shimmering, the sword… rather unwieldy looking, don’t you think? Curator: Indeed. The "Actresses" series, a set of trade cards distributed with Kimball cigarettes, were incredibly popular. They provide a snapshot of the public image of women in entertainment and consumer culture during that period. This wasn't about high art; it was about circulation, advertisement, and constructing celebrity. Editor: So, mass production meets stage performance? I find myself wondering about the materiality of the card itself—the paper stock, the ink, the printing process. These weren't meant to last; they were ephemera. And yet, here we are, analyzing their layered meaning. What statements can we gather around its commercial intentions, its impact and accessibility to audiences? Curator: Exactly. They were deliberately ephemeral, but they became intensely collectable. Consider the performance here, Miss Summerville embodying a specific persona that blends femininity and power, note how she dominates the pictorial space by positioning one leg in the corner column while resting the other on it, giving a powerful statement for a delicate art-piece. Editor: Absolutely, and in her adornments, she shows the means of theatrical representation, an object created with low-quality and cheap items trying to imitate better materials like the shiny garments to resemble golden or silver apparels, that she’s selling her power. Curator: It speaks to the broader social fascination with actresses at the time. The theater held significant social importance as well as commercial importance, both are tightly connected at the time. Editor: Precisely. By situating this image within its original context – cigarette packaging – we start to understand how celebrity imagery circulated within commercial and social realms. What a lens for thinking about representation! Curator: A fascinating dance between intention and reception indeed! I'll never look at a cigarette card the same way. Editor: It's a reminder that even seemingly disposable objects have lasting stories woven into their making. A history materialized in our hands.