Miss Eunice Vance, 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
63.350.220.245.1842
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of late 19th-century advertising *Miss Eunice Vance, the Actresses series (245)*, a tiny yet captivating albumen photograph produced by the Kinney Brothers Company in 1890 This pocket-sized portrait (just 2½ × 1⅜ inches) was one of many cards inserted into Sweet Caporal Cigarette packs to entice collectors and boost sales. Actresses like Vance, a stage performer of the era, embodied glamour and allure, making them ideal muses for these promotional ephemera. The albumen process, a hallmark of 19th-century photography, coated paper with egg whites to create sharp, wa...
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...