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

Curator: This is "Miss Cortelyou, from the Actresses series (N203)" brought to us by Wm. S. Kimball & Co. around 1889. The piece seems to blend drawing and photographic techniques, reproduced as a print. Editor: My immediate impression is the theatricality of the pose. The woman's gaze and the dramatic hand shielding her eyes suggests a staged moment. And it gives off very strange androgynous vibes... almost as if to challenge gender roles... I'd almost guess it's a man, not a woman! Curator: It's intriguing how you interpret that gesture. Traditionally, shielding one's eyes is a symbol of searching or awaiting something, a quest. But with the clear artificiality of the backdrop, it's like she's looking for an audience instead. A key for Ukiyo-e’s interest in theater? Editor: Exactly! These were figures meant to be seen, consumed, their images circulated widely, and literally purchased in association with consuming a commodity (cigarettes). So, her gaze implicates us, the viewers, in the spectacle. Curator: The theatrical is interesting... And even that is layered because these figures—the actresses, the bathing suits—represent shifting societal ideals. What symbols or signs resonate most clearly for you in it? Editor: For me, it is the juxtaposition of artifice and performance with commerce, the whole manufactured image reinforces a sense of constructed identities and desires. These images created, commodified, circulated, re-created. Curator: I agree. The layers of representation become almost infinite here... A representation of an actress… recontextualized to sell tobacco… How the past viewed image. And in turn how it would view the present, Editor: Right! That's where the enduring power of these images lies. It serves as a time capsule, revealing much about societal desires and the ways gender and identity are performative in culture. A continuous visual tradition recontextualized and made new.