Queenie Rich, from the Actresses series (N245) issued by Kinney Brothers to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes 1890

Editor: So this photograph is from 1890. It's a portrait of Queenie Rich from the Actresses series made by Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company. The sepia tone gives it a feeling of something old, obviously. What I find immediately striking is the contrast between the formality of the portrait and, shall we say, the suggestiveness of her attire. How do you interpret that contrast? Curator: Well, darling, it's all about the tease, isn't it? This photograph was, after all, intended as a cigarette card. Imagine the surprise, a frill of lace alongside the bracing tang of tobacco. The late 19th century was so fascinatingly repressed yet desperate for titillation. The composition also hints at how the Victorians were changing ideas about women – note her empowered gaze, almost challenging us. Don't you think the slightly unsettling direct address is far from submissive? It whispers of burgeoning feminine agency amidst layers of corsetry and convention. I wonder, who was Queenie Rich *really*? Did she collude with, or chafe against, this representation of herself? Editor: I never thought about her gaze being empowering! I was just thinking of it as a pose for a photo. It's so easy to view her as just an object rather than as a performer and a person. Curator: Exactly! And how easily we cast judgement based on our present sensibilities. She’s gazing at us from across a century, and we must be sensitive viewers. It gives us food for thought, doesn't it? What stories did *she* want to tell? What do we *project* onto her? Editor: Absolutely. I think I see so much more in this than just the historical, tobacco-related novelty item I originally assumed it was.