Mlle. Thibault, 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
63.350.208.145.8.257
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of late 19th-century advertising with *Mlle. Thibault, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-8)*, a diminutive albumen photograph issued around 1891 by W. Duke, Sons & Co., the American Tobacco Company. This portrait (just 2 11/16 × 1 3/8 inches) captures the poised elegance of French actress Mlle. Thibault, one of many theatrical stars featured on these collectible cigarette cards. Tucked into Duke cigarette packs, they enticed smokers while fueling a craze for celebrity memorabilia during America's Gilded Age, when theater was a cultural obsession. The album...
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...