Miss Stetson, from the Actors and Actresses series (N45, Type 1) for Virginia Brights Cigarettes 1885 - 1891

Curator: Look at this peculiar carte-de-visite: "Miss Stetson" from the "Actors and Actresses" series made by Allen & Ginter for Virginia Brights Cigarettes between 1885 and 1891. Editor: Oh, hello, Miss Stetson! She looks… theatrical, like she’s about to burst into song or perhaps start a playful brawl in a saloon. There’s something wonderfully performative about her posture, but melancholy at the same time, a yearning in her eyes, which contrasts dramatically with the playful, coquettish tilt of her head. I feel the energy! Curator: These cards, trading cards of a sort, offered consumers something more than just nicotine. Actresses, athletes, political figures - these images provided a glimpse into a world of celebrity, influencing aspirations and ideals. And yet it also commodifies celebrity. Editor: And not only celebrity, but… femininity? There's something intensely fetishized in the theatricality of the costume itself—all of these different pieces emphasizing form, silhouette and a fashionable feminine persona for an audience. Curator: Absolutely. We see corsetry used to achieve an hourglass figure; she is packaged. The gaze meets the viewers, but is also somehow distant, almost vacant. It becomes difficult to consider the sitter's personality as opposed to a constructed visual fantasy. Editor: Do you think that that vacancy could be purposeful? I wonder about the actress's personal resistance in representing herself or the character within such a rigid set of social roles. What if the supposed vacant affect is an actual void of participation? Curator: Fascinating to consider subversion there! Looking at the layers upon layers of artifice here, I also can't help but consider that she is actively selling tobacco and contributing to the addiction. She, of course, is beholden to these circumstances herself as an actress, I think the melancholy there then might indeed be profound. Editor: It's strange isn’t it, that even a century plus on from its making, this piece generates such complex feelings. From longing to disillusionment, and back again. Curator: A perfect, thought-provoking tension.