Mlle. Courvalet, Paris, from the Actors and Actresses series (N171) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1886 - 1890

This small card was made in New York by Goodwin & Company, sometime in the late 19th century. It is a photographic print, one of many inserted in packs of Old Judge Cigarettes. The card's materiality speaks volumes. It's a mass-produced object, designed to be collected and traded. The photographic image, likely captured using a collodion process involving a glass negative, captures a Parisian actress, Mlle. Courvalet. The sepia tones and slight blurriness of the photograph give it a sense of nostalgia and distance. This was a time when photography was becoming increasingly accessible, but was still seen as somewhat magical. What interests me most is how this card reveals the intersection of entertainment, advertising, and industrial production. The image of Mlle. Courvalet, a performer, is used to sell cigarettes, a product increasingly associated with leisure and pleasure. The card itself is a small, inexpensive object, yet it represents a complex network of labor, capital, and desire. It challenges our notions of fine art, as it exists within a broader history of commercial imagery and popular culture.