May St. John, 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
63.350.220.245.1711
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 1890s advertising with *May St. John, the Actresses series (245)*, a diminutive albumen photograph produced by the Kinney Brothers Company to promote their Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. This tiny portrait (just 2 1/2 × 1 7/16 inches) captures the alluring gaze of actress May St. John a star of the era's burlesque and vaudeville stages Issued as collectible inserts in cigarette packs, these cards everyday smoking into a gateway for fans to amass images of glamorous performers, blending commerce with celebrity fandom. Albumen prints, made by coating paper with egg whi...
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...