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

Editor: So, this is "Miss Saetilia, from the Actresses series (N203)" by William S. Kimball & Co., dating back to 1889. It looks like a print, perhaps a photograph, that has faded to a sepia tone. There's something melancholic and distant about it, even though it feels like a somewhat posed advertising shot. What do you make of this piece? Curator: There’s indeed a certain distancing effect at play. The profile view is telling; it positions the sitter in a realm of idealized beauty, removing her from direct engagement with the viewer. Think about profile portraits in ancient Rome - that distance conveyed power and authority. Is she an actress, or merely an icon to sell cigarettes? Editor: An interesting question! So the profile view elevates her but the advertisement purpose...demeans her somehow? Curator: It presents a tension, doesn’t it? The act of portraying Miss Saetilia in this stylized manner invests her with a certain symbolic weight, almost a mythical quality associated with idealized beauty and grace; beauty was its own product at that time. Yet, that very image becomes commodified. The actress, the figure, is thus reduced to a symbol within the economy of desire, consumed with a purchase. Does that shift how we read her? Editor: Absolutely! It changes how I see the symbolism completely. She becomes a symbol of manufactured desire, which is a powerful commentary in itself. Curator: Precisely! These objects speak to cultural anxieties about commodification. What we are looking at in an advertisement becomes a reflection of what we unconsciously think. Thank you, you have reframed my reading!