Pauline Markham, from the Actors and Actresses series (N45, Type 1) for Virginia Brights Cigarettes 1885 - 1891

Curator: Here we have "Pauline Markham," a photograph produced sometime between 1885 and 1891 by Allen & Ginter as part of their Actors and Actresses series to promote Virginia Brights Cigarettes. Editor: It's funny to see her image used to sell something as decidedly unglamorous as cigarettes! But the hazy sepia tones give the image a dreamy, ethereal quality. Almost otherworldly, you know? Curator: The composition reinforces that effect, certainly. The pose and gaze draw attention to her face, but the slight blur gives the impression of a memory, not a concrete presence. It also exemplifies the popular portraiture of the period. Editor: Portraiture in service of commerce. Do you think she knew that her image would outlive her performances by so long, attached as it is to the cult of smoking? It's a weird sort of immortality. Curator: It's an interesting point. As a product of mass production, it speaks volumes about the period’s values, the conflation of beauty, fame, and commodity. The visual rhetoric implies she embodies a kind of aspiration, but the cigarettes suggest indulgence. Editor: A delicious and dangerous dream—nicely packaged for easy consumption! Still, there’s something poignant about it. This young woman's moment captured for what, a brief, fleeting dance of celebrity? Then cemented in a cigarette packet forever! Curator: These ephemera give an illuminating glimpse into the culture that both celebrated and, perhaps inadvertently, trivialized artistic expression through its association with consumption. Editor: So true, I like how it gives us pause. To think about who Markham was beyond the photo, it invites me to linger with the image and consider her reality and mine.