Card 482, Leslie Chester, from the Actors and Actresses series (N45, Type 1) for Virginia Brights Cigarettes 1885 - 1891

This card of Leslie Chester, from the Actors and Actresses series, was made by Allen & Ginter of Richmond, Virginia, for Virginia Brights Cigarettes. This late nineteenth-century advertising card exemplifies the intersection of commerce and celebrity culture. The image creates meaning through its association with popular entertainment and consumerism. The theatrical profession, including actors and actresses like Leslie Chester, was gaining prominence in American society as a form of mass entertainment, and the production of such cards speaks to the rise of advertising and the increasing commercialization of leisure activities. Richmond's economic structure was still based largely on tobacco production, and it had only relatively recently been the capital of the Confederacy. In understanding such an image better, one might explore archives of advertising ephemera or study the history of tobacco production in the American South. Ultimately, the meaning of art is contingent on social and institutional context.