Card Number 75, Miss Sadie Martinot, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-2) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cross Cut Cigarettes
1880s
Medium
Albumen photograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 5/8 × 1 7/16 in. (6.6 × 3.7 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
63.350.207.145.2.233
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the glittering world of 1880s theater with *Card Number 75, Sadie Martinot*, a charming albumen photograph from W. Duke, Sons & Co.'s and Actresses series (145-2). Issued promote Cross Cut Cigarettes this petite card (just 2⅝ × 1⅞ inches) captures the poised elegance of Sadie Martinot, a popular actress of the era, embodying the star power that captivated Gilded Age audiences. Cigarette cards like this one were innovative marketing tools, tucked into tobacco packs to boost sales and spark collecting fever among enthusiasts young and old. The albumen process, a hallmark of 19th-centu...
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...