Card Number 36, Lillian Russell, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-4) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cameo Cigarettes
1880s
Medium
Albumen photograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 11/16 × 1 3/8 in. (6.8 × 3.5 cm)
Classification
Photographs|Ephemera
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, Gift of Jefferson R. Burdick
Accession Number
63.350.208.145.4.110
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the glittering world of Gilded Age theater with *Card Number 36, Russell*, a petite albumen photograph from the and Actresses series (145-4). Issued the 1880s by W. Duke, Sons & Co. to their Cameo Cigarettes, this portrait (just 2 11/16 × 1 3/8 inches) captures the iconic American actress and singer, whose beauty and stage presence made her a household name in musical comedies and operettas. Cigarette cards like this one were innovative marketing ephemera, tucked into tobacco packs to entice collectors and boost sales during a booming era of consumer culture. Albumen prints, a hallm...
About the Artist
W. Duke, Sons & Co. · 1870–1920
**W. Duke, Sons & Co.: Pioneers of Chromolithographic Trade Card Art** W. Duke, Sons & Co., an American tobacco manufacturer, emerged from the entrepreneurial vision of Washington Duke (1820–1905) and his sons in Durham, North Carolina. After the Civil War, Washington abandoned farming in 1874 to join his eldest son, Brodie L. Duke, in the burgeoning tobacco trade, establishing a factory that for...