Card Number 590, Sadie Martinot, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-3) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cross Cut 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
63.350.208.145.3.124
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the late 1880s, American tobacco companies like W., Sons & Co. revolutionized with colorful trading cards tucked into cigarette packs, sparking a collecting craze among all ages. This petite albumen photograph, *Card Number 590, Martinot*, from the *Actors and Actresses* series (145-3) promoting Cross Cut Cigarettes, the trend. Measuring just 2 11/16 × 1 3/8 inches, these ephemera cards featured celebrity portraits to glamorize smoking, blending commerce with pop culture. Sadie Martinot, a popular stage actress of the era, gazes confidently here, her image captured via the albumen process—...
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...