Card 695, Miss Johnston, from the Actors and Actresses series (N45, Type 2) for Virginia Brights Cigarettes 1885 - 1891

Curator: Looking at this card featuring Miss Johnston from the Actors and Actresses series, created between 1885 and 1891 by Allen & Ginter for Virginia Brights Cigarettes. It's a small gelatin-silver print, a collectible card, really, now housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Editor: Immediately, the gaze strikes me. It's not necessarily inviting, but quietly penetrating. The soft sepia tone and wisps of hair surrounding her face amplify this almost ethereal quality. It is suggestive of the beauty standards of that period and makes one reflect about contemporary conventions of portraiture, beauty and gender. Curator: These cards were incredibly popular. Cigarette companies like Allen & Ginter used them as a promotional tool, tapping into the public's fascination with celebrities of the stage, and their use of visual materials as advertising, is worth of note. Placing images into the hands of so many, undoubtedly helped elevate performers into celebrity icons, contributing also to disseminate stereotypes about race and gender. Editor: The performative aspect of these images really intrigues me, beyond their status as promotional material. We have Miss Johnston carefully positioned to project an image. I am wondering if this projection meets the conventions that are considered commercially attractive at the time, or, on the contrary, subverts them, claiming for example an aura of introspection? And whether her public persona extended, or deviated, from this very contained expression and composure. Curator: It’s interesting that you mention subversion. In many ways these cards are indicative of the values of the time. Actors, previously somewhat looked down upon in some circles, were elevated in the public sphere through images like this. Their reach and influence extended through print culture as mass produced images, although obviously conditioned by specific historical forces related to capital. Editor: I do wonder, seeing how compact this object is, the many conversations one could unravel examining its format and historical value. The image provides, even in this digitized form, a surprisingly nuanced point of contact. Curator: Agreed, understanding it not only provides a snapshot into a very particular cultural moment, but offers important insights to reflect about our current ones.