Clara St. Muir, 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
63.350.220.245.1715
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 1890s advertising with *Clara St. Muir, from the Actresses seriesN245)*, a petite albumen photograph produced by Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company promote their Sweet Caporal Cigarettes This tiny card, measuring just 2 1/2 × 1 7/16 inches, captures the alluring portrait of actress Clara St. Muir, of many glamorous stage stars featured in the series. Inserted into cigarette packs, cards transformed smoking into a collectible pastime, blending theater fandom with clever marketing during America's Gilded Age. Albumen prints, made by coating paper with egg whites and ...
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...