Louise Montague, 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
63.350.220.245.1335
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the late 19th century, American tobacco companies like Kinney Brothers pioneered innovative marketing with collectible cigarette cards, transforming everyday packs into treasure troves of celebrity portraits. This petite albumen photograph, *Louise Montague, from the Actresses series (N245)*, issued in 1890 to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes, exemplifies the trend. Measuring just 2½ × 1⅞ inches, it was designed for insertion into cigarette packages, enticing smokers—mostly men—to buy more for the thrill of completing sets featuring glamorous stage stars like Montague, a popular actress of ...
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...