Katie Uhart, from the Actors and Actresses series (N45, Type 1) for Virginia Brights Cigarettes 1885 - 1891

This card, featuring actress Katie Uhart, was manufactured by Allen & Ginter as part of a series included in packs of Virginia Brights Cigarettes. These cards weren't fine art, but rather, early examples of mass-produced promotional material. Printed on thin paper stock, the image is a sepia-toned portrait, likely reproduced through photolithography, a process that allowed for the relatively cheap duplication of images. The card stock itself speaks to the era's burgeoning consumer culture. These cards were designed to be collected, traded, and consumed along with the cigarettes. The image and the product, cigarettes, are tightly intertwined with social issues of labor, politics, and consumption. Tobacco cultivation, manufacturing, and marketing all relied on complex systems of labor, often exploiting workers. The commodification of Katie Uhart's image, printed on cheap paper, also reduces her to another layer of the industry. Considering such works shifts our understanding, challenging traditional distinctions between fine art and craft, and prompting us to examine the broader cultural landscape in which art is created and consumed.