Margaret Anglin in The Twin Sisters, from the Actresses series (T1), distributed by the American Tobacco Co. to promote Turkish Trophies Cigarettes 1900

This lithograph, likely dating from the early 20th century, by Frederick Moladore Spiegle, depicts the actress Margaret Anglin in costume for the play "The Twin Sisters". However, it's not just a portrait; it's also an advertisement distributed by the American Tobacco Company. The image creates meaning on several levels. Anglin, a well-known actress, lends her celebrity to the promotion of Turkish Trophies Cigarettes. The costume, with its vaguely "Orientalist" style, exoticizes the product and the actress. Made in a period of rising consumerism, images like these blurred the lines between art, entertainment, and advertising. The American Tobacco Company, a powerful institution, used popular imagery to shape public tastes and desires. Was this art? Not in the traditional sense. It challenges the idea of art for art's sake, reminding us that artistic production is often intertwined with commerce and cultural power. To understand this image fully, we might research the history of advertising, the American Tobacco Company, and the career of Margaret Anglin. We will be able to reflect on the social role of images and the institutions that produce and circulate them.