Lillian Kennedy, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-8) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Duke Cigarettes 1890 - 1895

Curator: Here we have a photograph, part of the "Actors and Actresses" series dating from about 1890-1895. This print, originally a promotional item for Duke Cigarettes, depicts Lillian Kennedy, a stage actress of the time. Editor: The sepia tone and composition really set a wistful mood. She's caught in this in-between state – relaxed, almost candid, but deliberately posed on that turned-leg table. The photographic effect feels less about raw, objective likeness and more about staged mood and affect. Curator: Exactly. The tobacco cards functioned to disseminate these images widely, forging a cultural memory. Celebrities, like Kennedy, were totems of aspiration. The symbols of beauty and artistry, available at the purchase of everyday, accessible product. It’s a democratizing force through commerce, in a way. Editor: I am fascinated by how this small photographic print reduces Lillian Kennedy into basic geometric components of shadow and form. The artist directs a series of tonal effects that shape how she's ultimately perceived; that stark divide and sharp distinction almost flatten her, turning a woman of substance into a two-dimensional subject of mass fascination and commodity consumption. I read those boot tassels as perfect cues of material affect! Curator: Absolutely, we see the construction of celebrity persona, too. Kennedy's pose – seemingly casual, perhaps thoughtful – projects a relatable image while hinting at theatrical glamour. Editor: How it is presented offers its own insights into commercial influence and dissemination, the almost postcard format adds to the way information would have moved and who this would have affected and influenced during the end of the Victorian era. There is a real artifice to how it works. Curator: Right, it becomes a vessel for projected desires and aspirational lifestyles. Today we see those effects rippling across every strata of influencer commerce. Editor: Considering how it flattens an essence of the feminine, and makes its commodification so overt – so available – through an exercise of reduction and promotion? That tension certainly gives me pause for thought.