Concertina, from the Musical Instruments series (N82) for Duke brand cigarettes 1888

"Concertina" was created by W. Duke, Sons & Co. around the turn of the 20th century as part of a series of collectible cards included in cigarette packs. These cards, reflecting the cultural milieu of the time, often depicted idealized images of women. Here we see a woman adorned in what appears to be Spanish-inspired garb. She is playing a concertina, an instrument associated with folk music and entertainment. However, the portrayal is far from a celebration of diverse cultures. Instead, it is an appropriation, sanitizing the image of the ‘other’ for the consumption of a predominantly white, middle-class audience. The woman's beauty is presented as a commodity, mirroring the commodification of tobacco by Duke, Sons & Co., whose slogan "The Largest Cigarette Manufacturers in the World" is emblazoned at the bottom. The card thus becomes a powerful symbol of the era's complex intersections of gender, class, and cultural representation. It leaves us to consider the emotional distance between the woman depicted and the consumer, a distance that speaks volumes about the social dynamics of the time.