[Actress wearing gown decorated with flowers], from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-8) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Duke Cigarettes 1890 - 1895

Editor: Here we have a photographic print from between 1890 and 1895, '[Actress wearing gown decorated with flowers]' from the Actors and Actresses series by W. Duke, Sons & Co. It's an albumen print, so it has this lovely, warm sepia tone. What really strikes me is how staged and formal it feels. What's your take on this piece? Curator: This piece is fascinating when we consider it within the context of its production. The Duke company wasn't creating art for art's sake, but using images of actresses to sell cigarettes. It reflects a calculated effort to associate glamour and female beauty with their product. It served a commercial goal. How does this awareness shift your understanding of its aesthetic? Editor: I guess I see the actress's expression a bit differently now. Knowing it was advertising changes it—the flowers on the gown, the careful posing... it feels like constructing a very specific image of femininity for consumption. Curator: Exactly. And who is consuming it? Predominantly men, right? This links directly to prevailing ideas about women in the late 19th century, their roles, their visibility. It's about controlling and commodifying the female image, presenting it as both desirable and safe within prescribed societal norms. Where does this understanding position us regarding power, gender and representation? Editor: That's a perspective I hadn’t considered fully. It reframes the whole image – it’s not just a pretty picture but a deliberate construction reflecting power dynamics. Curator: It becomes an object lesson in visual culture, showing us how advertising, gender, and capitalism intersected in ways that continue to resonate today. And those intersections invite interrogation. Editor: That really changes my appreciation for how much one little image can reveal. It makes me want to dig deeper. Curator: Absolutely. Seeing this photograph, its time and intention, lets us engage with difficult issues that shaped our cultural values, so that we are not simply repeating patterns unconsciously.