Blanche Thornton/ Clara Davenport/ Florence Baker, Corsair Co./ Maud Waldemere, Corsair Co., from the Actors and Actresses series (N45, Type 4) for Virginia Brights Cigarettes 1885 - 1891

Curator: Isn't this cigarette card fascinating? It's titled "Blanche Thornton/ Clara Davenport/ Florence Baker, Corsair Co./ Maud Waldemere, Corsair Co., from the Actors and Actresses series (N45, Type 4) for Virginia Brights Cigarettes." Made between 1885 and 1891 by Allen & Ginter, it presents us with these four figures in collotype. Editor: My immediate impression is how much this reveals about leisure, commerce, and entertainment. The figures aren't painted on canvas, but printed to sell more cigarettes, and the tobacco smells rise from its pores! They look less like people and more like commodities. Curator: Precisely! Each of these women were performers, connected with the Corsair Opera Company, which probably gave them access and an allure which boosted sales, I suppose. But observe their gazes. There's something so evocative in that moment captured. Clara looks downward, while Blanche challenges us directly, almost a dare to enjoy! Editor: Indeed, their gaze is central to their power within this system. It is the look that sells and it suggests that looking is tied inextricably to commodity production here. Plus the fact that it is distributed as a card tells me a great deal about mass consumption. Curator: Consider, too, the subtle differences in their adornment. It speaks volumes about stage persona versus a semblance of 'real' identity, a distinction perhaps blurred in their line of work. You almost catch whispers of those roles, layered like their beaded necklaces. The card seems so small, but the depth it provides speaks so powerfully about turn of the century entertainment. Editor: Exactly. And by examining this so-called 'minor art,' we gain insight into the conditions that made this work possible – that era of new modes of making. I see in it a laboring body reproduced via machine! From performances and printing process to cigarette production – it is labor embodied and material circulation within capitalist culture. Curator: It almost serves as a time capsule. It offers such insights into a world obsessed with both artistry and mass culture. We hold here a piece of ephemera imbued with so much personality and nuance that a contemporary audience can enjoy now with, possibly, new found perspective. Editor: I will remember these actresses are at the forefront of debates surrounding authorship and cultural production; that in turn invites us to understand them in light of broader economic forces within this world! A cheap, disposable advertisement offering a treasure trove about labor and consumption.