From the Actors and Actresses series (N45, Type 5) for Virginia Brights Cigarettes 1885 - 1891

Editor: This is an albumen print from the Actors and Actresses series by Allen & Ginter, dating from 1885 to 1891. It's quite small, almost like a playing card, but the woman portrayed is so captivating! The sepia tone gives it this aged, almost dreamlike quality. What really strikes me is how she seems to both pose and yet remain very much herself. What do you see in it? Curator: Oh, what a delicious paradox you’ve stumbled upon! Yes, it's the quintessential late 19th century—a whisper of burlesque tucked inside a tobacco card! What’s amazing to me is how the era managed to commodify desire *and* morality within the same fleeting glance. These images offered tiny, permissible peeks, and titillation framed with just enough ‘respectability’ to sell cigarettes. I imagine gazing at this image then, might be akin to our fleeting scroll through Instagram now – craving a moment of fantasy! Tell me, does the model's gaze engage you, or does she feel posed, presented like merchandise? Editor: That’s a thought, the Instagram parallel! She feels…complicated. Her eyes meet yours, yet the cigarette ad feel takes away some agency, like she's there for consumption in every sense. Curator: Exactly! She is the dance between muse and object, frozen in amber by consumerism. The soft focus almost feels like a veil, blurring the lines between performance and the real. It poses a question, doesn't it? What do we truly see when we think we're looking at a person, rather than an image, a symbol, or…well, a selling point? Editor: Definitely gives you something to chew on, or…contemplate between drags. I'll never look at old ads the same way again. Curator: Or cigarettes! The aftertaste of art history can be pretty potent stuff.