Clara Morris, from the Actresses series (N245) issued by Kinney Brothers to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes
Medium
Albumen photograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 1/2 × 1 7/16 in. (6.4 × 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
63.350.220.245.1349
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 1890s advertising with this petite albumen photograph of renowned actress Clara Morris, part of the *Actresses series (N)* produced by the Kinney Brothers Company. Measuring just 2½ × 1⅞ inches, this intimate portrait was designed as collectible ephemera—likely a card tucked into packs of Sweet Caporal Cig—to entice smokers and fans alike. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, it comes from the celebrated Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, a treasure trove of American ephemera. Albumen prints, the dominant photographic medium o...
About the Artist
Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company · 1869–2011
**Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company (1869–2011)** Founded around 1869 by Francis Sherwood Kinney in New York City, the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company quickly rose to prominence in the burgeoning American cigarette industry. Francis, a pioneering tobacco manufacturer, experimented with hand-rolled cigarettes using blends of Turkish and Virginia tobacco, scaling to mass production by employing Europ...