Mdlle. Violet, 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
63.350.220.245.1882
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the glamorous world of 1890s advertising with *Mdlle. Violet, from the Actresses seriesN245)*, a petite albumen photograph produced by the Kinney Brothers Company to promote their popular Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. just 2½ × 1⅞ inches, this tiny portrait captures the allure of a theatrical star, "Mdlle. Violet," embodying the era's fascination with actresses as icons of beauty and sophistication. Issued as collectible trading cards inserted into cigarette packs, these ephemera were designed to entice smokers and spark a collecting craze among enthusiasts of all ages. Albumen prints, ...
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...