Julette, from the Ballet Queens series (N182) issued by Wm. S. Kimball & Co. 1889

This is Julette, from the Ballet Queens series, a lithograph issued by the Wm. S. Kimball & Co., a tobacco company. These cards were included in cigarette packs, and are representative of the emerging mass culture of the late 19th century. Julette, with her confident stance and elaborate costume, embodies both spectacle and the commodification of the female form in popular culture. The Ballet Queen series featured idealized images of women, often performers, reflecting and shaping the era’s notions of beauty and entertainment. These images were widely circulated, and offer insight into the construction of femininity and desire in the Victorian age. Though seemingly a celebration of female performers, the image also reveals the constraints placed on women, whose bodies and identities were often presented for male consumption. It prompts us to consider the complex interplay between empowerment and objectification, and the gaze through which women were, and continue to be, seen.