Miss Vernon, 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
63.350.220.245.1862
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of late 19th-century advertising with *Miss Vernon, from the Actresses series (N245)*, a charming albumen photograph issued by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company in 1890. This petite card (just 2 1/2 × 1 7/16 inches) was part of a popular promotional series for Sweet Caporal Cigarettes, featuring glamorous portraits of actresses to entice collectors and smokers alike. Miss Vernon, elegantly posed, embodies the era's theatrical stars who captivated audiences on stage and in print. Albumen prints, made by coating paper with egg whites and silver salts, were the gold...
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...