Sadie Leslie, from the Actors and Actresses series (N45, Type 3) 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
63.350.203.45.1042
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the glittering world of 1880s theater with this petite albumen photograph of actress Sadie Leslie, part of Allen & Ginter's Actors and Actresses series (45, Type 3) issued with Virginia Brights Cigarettes Produced around 1888, these tiny cards—measuring just 2 3/4 x 1 3/8 inches—were savvy marketing tools by the pioneering tobacco firm, enticing collectors to buy more packs for portraits of vaudeville and stage stars. Sadie Leslie, captured in elegant pose, embodies the era's fascination with female performers who dazzled audiences in an age of emerging mass entertainment. The album...
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...