Mabel Santley, from the Actresses series (N245) issued by Kinney Brothers to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes 1890

Editor: Here we have a gelatin silver print from 1890 by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company. It's a portrait of Mabel Santley from their Actresses series used to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. What strikes me most is how the setting behind her feels almost theatrical, which seems apt considering the subject. What do you make of it? Curator: Well, it tickles me, really. Imagine being condensed to a tiny card, slipped into a cigarette pack, all for the sake of tempting someone to light up! What survives isn't just Mabel but also a wisp of a bygone era. To me, the soft focus feels like a dream, doesn't it? It is staged, yet still gives you the feeling that it’s revealing a truth, and not necessarily about her beauty, but more like something about the time. How different it is from today! What do you think of the composition itself? Editor: Now that you mention it, I see the artistry even more. The composition uses soft focus and staging techniques with such subtlety, like in some forms of Japonisme art... I find it quite clever actually. Curator: Exactly! There’s this push and pull—the high art aspirations bumping into the commercial gimmickry. Mabel, knowingly or not, becomes a sort of muse for the masses. A lovely muse, I might add, now gracing a museum wall instead of a tobacco pack! I am touched by her humanity. What stays with you after considering it, finally? Editor: For me, it’s this strange collision of celebrity, advertising, and art history. I came in expecting a portrait, and I'm leaving with questions about the transient nature of fame and how industries morph! Curator: Precisely! I'll think I'll chew on that thought a little more...