From the Actresses series (N57) promoting Our Little Beauties Cigarettes for Allen & Ginter brand tobacco products 1890

Editor: Here we have an intriguing print from 1890, "From the Actresses series (N57) promoting Our Little Beauties Cigarettes," created by Allen & Ginter. It looks like a pencil drawing, though it's actually a print. There’s something about the gaze of the subject – direct, confident, yet slightly melancholy. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Well, first off, I find the "Our Little Beauties" phrasing a bit unsettling, doesn't it? Like butterflies pinned in a Victorian collection. The gaze is definitely striking; she seems poised between defiance and vulnerability, typical of the era’s idealization of feminine beauty, but with a knowing glance that suggests a sharper self-awareness. Do you pick up on that tension as well? Editor: Yes, I can see that tension. It's like she's performing a role, but subtly breaking the fourth wall. Curator: Precisely! This was designed as a cigarette card. Imagine the world these women inhabited, on stages, then on tobacco products… a mass mediated celebrity in its earliest form. I also find myself wondering if that "knowing glance" you see might have something to do with just trying to make a living in that era. And, really, in ours too? What do you think about how it holds up today? Editor: That's a sobering thought, framing her performance as survival. Perhaps it’s not that different today – still performing, still selling. I guess it’s left me feeling reflective. Curator: Me too! It really highlights how perspectives shift and how our relationship with an image – and its purpose – can evolve drastically. It’s quite potent, isn't it?