Mlle. Jager, Paris, from the Actors and Actresses series (N171) for Gypsy Queen Cigarettes 1886 - 1890

This small card was made by Goodwin & Company, purveyors of Gypsy Queen Cigarettes. It’s one of a series that featured actors and actresses. These cards were inexpensive, mass-produced objects, made using photographic printing techniques to reproduce images quickly and in large quantities. The sepia tone, the thinness of the paper, and the small size, all speak to the card's status as a mass-produced commodity. Such cards were literally packed in with consumer goods. The image, of Mlle. Jager, a Parisian actress, is staged and formal. Its purpose was to catch the eye of consumers, enticing them to purchase the brand. The card is a product of its time, reflecting the rise of consumer culture and the use of images in advertising. It invites us to consider the relationship between art, commerce, and popular culture. It is an interesting artifact, that collapses the high and low, and that speaks to a whole system of industry and labor.