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

This photograph of Miss Violette comes from a series produced by the Wm. S. Kimball & Company, a cigarette manufacturer. These cards were printed using the photolithography process, a technique that allowed images to be reproduced quickly and cheaply on a mass scale. The sepia tone gives the image a nostalgic feel, but it also speaks to its original context, one of industrial production and consumer culture. This was a world where images of actresses, like this one, were commodities, used to sell tobacco products. It's worth noting that the subject of the photograph, Miss Violette, is presented as a performer, a woman whose image is being circulated for the pleasure of others. The card itself, a small, mass-produced object, speaks volumes about the social and economic forces at play in the late 19th century. By looking closely at the materials and making of this object, we can begin to understand the complex relationship between art, labor, and commerce.