From the Actors and Actresses series (N45, Type 5) for Virginia Brights Cigarettes
ca. 1888
Medium
Albumen photograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 3/4 x 1 3/8 in. (7 x 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
63.350.203.45.876
Tags
Art Historical Context
This petite albumen photograph, part of Allen & Ginter's *Actors and Actresses* series (N45, 5) issued around 1888, captures the allure of a leading lady from the Victorian theater world. Produced as a promotional insert for Virginia Brights Cigarettes, cards—measuring just 2¾ × 1⅜ inches—were collectible ephemera designed to entice smokers and boost brand loyalty during the Gilded Age boom in mass-produced tobacco products. Allen & Ginter, pioneering lithographers and tobacco innovators, revolutionized marketing by pairing celebrity portraits with their cigarettes, sparking a craze for tradi...
About the Artist
Allen & Ginter
Allen & Ginter, the pioneering American tobacco firm based in Richmond, Virginia, emerged around 1880 from the partnership of John F. Allen and Lewis Ginter, evolving from Allen's earlier John F. Allen & Company. Allen retired in 1882, succeeded by John Pope, yet the brand endured under Ginter's leadership, employing over 1,100 workers—mostly women—for hand-rolled cigarettes by 1886. Ginter, a Dut...