Card Number 46, Gertrude Gardner, 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
63.350.208.145.4.54
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century American ephemera with *Card Number 46, Gardner*, a tiny gem from the Actors and Actresses series (145-4). Issued in the 1880s by W. Duke, Sons &. to promote theiro Cigarettes, thisible trading card captures the allure of popular theater star Gertrude Gardner. Measuring just 2 11/16 × 1 3/8 inches, it exemplifies how tobacco companies cleverly used celebrity imagery to entice collectors, much like modern trading cards. Printed as an albumen photograph dominant photographic medium of the era, prized for its sharp detail and warm tones achieved throug...
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...