Card Number 79, Guillos, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-6) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Duke Cigarettes 1880s

Curator: Oh, my! She looks as if she's about to leap right off the card and into the ocean. Editor: Indeed! This is "Card Number 79, Guillos," from the Actors and Actresses series produced by Duke Sons & Co. in the 1880s as an advertisement for Duke Cigarettes. What strikes me most is its function as a very public piece of ephemera. Curator: Ephemera, right, but it also feels incredibly… private. It’s a woman, posed, ready to dive, with such resolve. And, “Duke Cigarettes Are the Best.” Is that confidence or an odd juxtaposition? Editor: Well, these cards were essentially miniature portraits, intended to be collected and traded. Circulating these images normalized them, making celebrity and leisure—even diving, a then-modern activity—familiar parts of everyday culture. Smoking itself was on the rise and the modern "Duke" label assured consumers they were with the times. Curator: Right, she’s diving into the current culture, the swell of popularity for, er, everything. The monochromatic, sepia tones really play to that nostalgia. And her face, determined but calm... I wonder who she was outside this cigarette-sponsored snapshot. Editor: That’s the mystery these images present. Was "Guillos" a stage name? Was she actually an actress or simply a model hired for this purpose? We see so many examples from the period but know so little about them. The lack of sharp definition softens her stance, so it's about to happen... Curator: Exactly. The blurring kind of liberates her— makes it more like feeling than fact. You know, even today, seeing this little picture brings me a flutter. An odd longing. It whispers about aspiration, even as it shouts about cigarettes. Editor: Well put! It certainly makes me consider how advertising doesn't simply sell products. These images reveal anxieties and aspiration and shape a whole new set of popular cultural behaviors. Even down to its small size, there's an interesting democratic ambition—a portable work for anyone's pocket. Curator: A little dive into an endless sea… and all for a smoke. Fascinating.