Ugalde, from World's Beauties, Series 2 (N27) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes 1888

This is Ugalde, a chromolithograph card from the “World’s Beauties” series, produced by Allen & Ginter Cigarettes. The late 19th century saw an explosion of mass media, and with it, a fascination with global cultures. “World’s Beauties” captured this moment by depicting women from various ethnic backgrounds. Yet these images often reinforced colonial power dynamics, presenting exoticized versions of their subjects for a Western, male audience. Here, Ugalde is elegantly styled, but the card reduces her to a type, stripping away individual identity. What does it mean to commodify someone's likeness in the service of selling cigarettes? Consider the ethics of representation, the gaze of the viewer, and the lived reality of the woman behind the image. While this card may seem like a harmless relic of the past, it invites us to reflect on how we consume images and perpetuate stereotypes today.