Mabel Ward, from the Actors and Actresses series (N45, Type 7) for Dixie Cigarettes 1885 - 1891

Curator: This is Mabel Ward, a portrait from the Actors and Actresses series made between 1885 and 1891 for Dixie Cigarettes, a product of Allen & Ginter. Editor: It feels wistful. The sepia tone gives it such a dreamy quality, almost melancholic, doesn't it? Curator: Indeed. Allen & Ginter were pioneers in including such cards in cigarette packs, targeting a wide audience by celebrating popular actresses, and appealing to consumer culture through celebrity endorsements. The integration of photography into commercial products like cigarettes reveals a lot about evolving social attitudes towards both art and leisure at the time. Editor: The fan, partly obscuring her face, acts almost as a shield. It makes you wonder, is it protection, or a coy gesture? Fans were often laden with hidden meanings then. Her slight bow adds to the sense of demureness, and look, there's the suggestion of flowers, perhaps lilies, hinting at refinement. The backdrop itself is intriguing. Do we know the significance of its elements? Curator: It represents an intersection of commercial and cultural ambitions. This wasn't high art destined for galleries. These images were instruments for shaping aspirations, associating everyday habits with celebrity, theater, and refinement. Editor: The integration of Japonisme with the wall motifs creates an appealing cross-cultural reference, especially regarding theater and set-design practices during this period. Notice the vase! It certainly heightens her aura as an unattainable symbol. She becomes less an individual, Mabel Ward, and more of a figuration, accessible, due to these distributed cigarette packs, while remote. Curator: Exactly. These trading cards, now preserved as artifacts, offer a unique perspective into marketing tactics of the era and evolving consumerism linked with performing arts. Editor: Reflecting on Mabel, and the wider cultural reach of these cards, I'm reminded how deeply ingrained symbolism is, in our pursuit of everyday glamour, then and now. Curator: And from an economic and social view, what initially appears as a simple image of a celebrity subtly displays power structures, reflecting the aspirations of a consumer base rapidly gaining its shape in gilded-age America.