Card 310, Lotta, "La Cigale," from the Actors and Actresses series (N45, Type 1) for Virginia Brights Cigarettes 1885 - 1891

Curator: This portrait, presented as a card in the Actors and Actresses series for Virginia Brights Cigarettes, features Lotta Crabtree, also known as "La Cigale". Allen & Ginter produced these from 1885 to 1891. Editor: There's something almost ghostly about this, like a faded dream. It's all soft edges and that antique sepia tone, you know? Her lace looks like it's made of mist. Curator: Indeed. The choice of photograph as print medium during this era signifies a shift toward democratization and the commodification of celebrity. These cards were tools to bolster social associations and advertise tobacco. Lotta, a popular entertainer, was, through this medium, intertwined with consumption and aspiration. Editor: And she's holding a feathered fan...it feels performative, right? She's not just posing; she's *presenting*. It also strikes me how it creates some intimacy to the public eye but there is also distance, she's literally holding a fan between her body and the world, you know? Curator: That fan, I believe, serves multiple roles, both enhancing her stage persona and strategically masking, controlling the narrative around female performers then—and perhaps now too. This portrayal reflects the intricate web of capitalism, gender, and celebrity in late 19th-century America. What impact can we imagine such images having? Editor: Hmm... She is definitely selling something—cigarettes, herself, a fantasy...and isn't that what performance is all about, in the end? I wonder, what was *she* really like behind that cloud of lace and feathers? Curator: By viewing works such as these, we might be better equipped to question how media constructs, negotiates, and polices these identities within the cultural narratives that follow even to today. Editor: I keep coming back to how it feels fragile. Both in time and literally. That little card carries a whole world—a glimpse into a star's life, the tobacco industry, even just our own fascination with fleeting images. It's kind of beautiful, actually.