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

Curator: Immediately, the delicate sepia tones give this photograph a soft, dreamy quality. There's a distinct sense of poised serenity. Editor: This is a print from a photograph dating to 1890, part of the "Actresses" series (N245) by Kinney Brothers, a tobacco company that issued these cards to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. It's titled "Jean Mawson". Curator: So, this image functioned as a form of early advertising, a collectable premium tucked into cigarette packs. Consider the means of production and the audience that the Kinney Brothers were targeting. Tobacco was widely consumed in industrial workforces and expanding middle classes, who would circulate this popular image via a low-cost consumable good. Editor: And consider how deliberately this image has been composed: her pose leaning against the faux marble pillar, the deliberate arrangement of the fabrics in the dress, creating interesting lines. Her expression draws you in; she is inviting but keeps a slight distance, no harsh lighting that could distract the eye. Curator: I'm fascinated by that intersection of celebrity, aspiration, and consumer culture. These cards provided a glimpse into the world of popular actresses, but really these were selling a promise of social mobility and projecting desires around status. Think about the labor involved; from the cultivation and manufacture of tobacco, to that of photographic production, reproduction and circulation. Editor: Let’s not forget, however, the skillful artifice. It employs shadow, contrast, and a careful composition of tonal value in a manner that could be read against prevailing academic norms and categories of art production at the time. Curator: Right. That this photograph collapses boundaries by making “art” part of the daily routines and collecting habits of a mass consumer base, challenges any sense of this photograph as something solely rarified or precious. Editor: Certainly gives us much to consider, from surface aesthetics to deeper meanings tied up in the fabric of its production. Curator: Precisely, the photograph’s allure becomes intertwined with a complex network of material consumption and cultural values of the late 19th century.