Polly Winner, Corsair Co., from the Actors and Actresses series (N45, Type 6) for Virginia Brights Cigarettes 1885 - 1891

Curator: Immediately striking is the sepia tone—almost dreamlike, like an echo from the past. There’s an undeniable softness to the photographic print, wouldn’t you agree? Editor: Indeed. And this evocative card, dating from between 1885 and 1891, belongs to a series entitled “Actors and Actresses” produced by Allen & Ginter for Virginia Brights Cigarettes. Specifically, it's the type 6 edition. Curator: "Actors and Actresses"... interesting framing. It elevates figures involved with theatrical work in a specific time frame when industry saw very particular kinds of gender expectations. You're seeing that on display materially, in her garb, stance, and stage presentation. Editor: I am compelled by the symbolism woven throughout the photograph. Look at how Polly Winner leans, almost languidly, against what appears to be a ruin of some kind. The fallen pillar behind her— a classic symbol of decay but also resilience—speaking volumes about the transient nature of fame, perhaps. Curator: I read it rather differently. To me, her casual pose points to the mechanisms of its making, and to her function in commerce, highlighting mass-produced celebrity. Here she is, posed deliberately as a trade object for rapid circulation as promotional media, almost indifferent in a landscape backdrop fabricated at scale. Editor: Do you believe the stage attire contributes to this feel, signaling both identity and performance? Curator: Precisely! The ruffled layers and embellishments, perhaps cheap at the time, speak to the industry driving this distribution method—mass-marketed images bundled as part of a luxury commodity, the cigarette. The photograph is merely another disposable part of a capitalist production circuit. Editor: And yet, the image of Polly Winner continues to resonate! There’s a trace here that I find unexpectedly poignant— perhaps the vulnerability in her gaze hints at the person behind the persona crafted for the commercial image. She embodies both subject and object. Curator: Fair. The endurance and reach of this photographic image shows the power of capitalist strategies but also a complicated circulation of representation. Editor: Absolutely. It makes me rethink our own reliance on images, particularly how much we give or receive now from these artifacts. Curator: Well said. The object embodies something to grapple with materially, psychologically, historically.