Mlle. Le Daunce, from the Actresses series (N245) issued by Kinney Brothers to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes 1890

Curator: Here we have a curious relic of the 1890s, "Mlle. Le Daunce," a photographic print by Kinney Brothers. Part of their Actresses series intended to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. The print, done in albumen, features a woman in a rather provocative pose. Editor: Provocative is putting it mildly! My first thought is "Burlesque advertisement," but there's a wistful expression that contradicts the typical pin-up brashness. A peculiar combination of sensuality and vulnerability. Curator: Absolutely. The late 19th century saw a burgeoning interest in both celebrity culture and the commodification of desire. Actresses were idolized, and their images sold everything from tobacco to theatrical fantasies. Consider her name “Le Daunce,” quite on the nose! It evokes themes of artifice, display, and performance. What hidden social currents do you intuit within her staged appearance? Editor: There’s that yearning… something very tangible beyond the sales pitch. The way she rests her foot, not coquettishly pointed, but grounded and slightly turned. I wonder about the weight of expectation for someone whose body is their business. It must leave psychological fingerprints on both sides of the lens, photographer and model. Curator: Intriguing to think about photography as a form of psychological impression. Certainly, albumen prints were common, cheap commodities; but let's unpack this erotic element more broadly. The Victorian era contained extreme fascination with sexuality that it could not openly express. Erotic imagery circulated but under the guise of 'art' or even science. It's fascinating how an item designed for cheap, mass consumption has attained this level of cultural, aesthetic consideration now, at The Met. Editor: Perhaps her enduring power stems from the visible struggle. It’s a paradox, really; this image was meant to entice, but I sense a subversion in the model’s unpolished grace and thoughtful look. Makes me question my complicity and complicity as a whole: as the photographer, or as consumer. It gives pause and lets something breathe. Curator: Thank you for letting the silences of this photo sing for us. Now when we look at it in passing we know there is something far more beyond that. Editor: A memory sparked by shadows. Wonderful.