Woman standing with hand on chair, 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
63.350.220.245.2027
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the late 19th century, tobacco companies like the Kinney Brothers pioneered innovative marketing by inserting collectible trading cards into cigarette packs. This petite albumen photograph, titledWoman standing with hand on*, is one from their Actresses series (N), issued in 1890 to promote Caporal Cigarettes. just 2½ × 1⅞ inches, the card captures a poised female figure—likely a stage actress of the era—leaning gracefully with one hand on a chair, embodying the elegance and allure that captivated Victorian audiences. Albumen prints, the dominant photographic medium of the time, used egg w...
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...