Loe Fuller, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-8) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Duke Cigarettes
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
63.350.208.145.8.120
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the glittering world of 1890s celebrity culture with this petite albumen photograph of Loie Fuller, a luminous portrait from the *Actors and Actresses* (N145-8). Issued around 1891 by W. Duke, Sons & Co.—later the American Tobacco Company—these tiny cards (just 2 11/16 × 1 3/8 inches) were into cigarette packs as clever marketing ploys to entice collectors and boost sales. Fuller, a pioneering performer celebrated for her mesmerizing "Serpentine Dance" with flowing silks and innovative lighting effects, embodies the era's fascination with stage stars. As ephemera, this photograph ca...
About the Artist
W. Duke, Sons & Co.|American Tobacco Company · 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...