Miss Rafelee, 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
63.350.220.245.1476
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 1890s advertising with *Miss Rafelee, from Actresses series (N)*, a tiny albumen photograph produced by the Kinney Brothers Company to promote their popular Sweet Caporal Cigarettes This collectible trade card, measuring just 2½ × 1⅞ inches, captures the poised portrait of actress Miss Rafelee, one of many female stars featured in the series. During the Gilded Age, tobacco companies Kinney Brothers distributed these cards inside cigarette packs to entice collectors, blending celebrity allure with commercial savvy. Printed via the albumen process—a hallmark of 19...
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...