Mlle. Le Brun, 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
63.350.220.245.1137
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of late 19th-century advertising with *Mlle. Le Brun, from the Actresses seriesN245)*, a charming albumen photograph produced by the Kinney Brothers Company in 1890 This petite card (just 2½ × 1⅜ inches) was one of many inserted into packs of Sweet Caporal Cig, transforming everyday tobacco products into collectible treasures. Kinney Brothers cleverly tapped into the era's theater craze, featuring glamorous portraits of actresses to boost brand loyalty and spark a collecting frenzy among enthusiasts. The albumen print medium, coated with egg whites for its glossy s...
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...