Mlle. Norette, Paris, from the Actors and Actresses series (N171) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1886 - 1890

Curator: I find the dreamy gaze and composition in this Goodwin & Company print from the late 1880s incredibly compelling. It's part of the "Actors and Actresses" series promoting Old Judge Cigarettes, titled "Mlle. Norette, Paris." Editor: It's intriguing how such a small photographic print, basically advertising ephemera, holds so much… romance, even. Look at her pose, perched delicately, the gauzy dress – feels like Degas, almost, yet mass produced. What were these prints even made of? Curator: It’s a photographic print, likely an albumen or gelatin silver print, mounted on card stock. The choice of actress suggests a desire to connect smoking with glamour and artistic culture of the period, doesn’t it? Perhaps it offered a tiny portal to another world for the average smoker. Editor: The printing process would have been quite labor-intensive then, involving multiple steps, chemical baths… not the sleek digital world we inhabit today. The consumption aspect of it interests me, these cards meant to be discarded or collected… the art world tied to smoking. I bet these prints were cheap as chips at the time and not considered high art at all. Curator: Absolutely. These trade cards also reveal how popular theatre was at the time, or perhaps they hint at deeper cultural memories. Mlle. Norette, in particular, exudes a certain vulnerability alongside the allure; there is also something quintessentially Parisian about her – almost ethereal. Did such small affordable images democratize celebrity at the turn of the century? Editor: And there is the social side to this: a very specific product pushing aspirations related to leisure, class, and performance. It shows how interconnected consumerism and culture were already becoming in that era, with these types of manufactured items subtly shaping tastes and reinforcing societal hierarchies. Curator: Ultimately, this little card presents a rich microcosm. An everyday object with aspirations and the capacity to both represent and subtly shape our cultural memory of beauty, fame and consumption. Editor: Agreed. Seeing the details of its making makes it less "precious" somehow but ultimately, even more compelling. The whole point was circulation, accessibility – to get art in the hands, or at least in the cigarette packets, of ordinary people.