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

Curator: What a fascinating artifact of popular culture! This is a cabinet card featuring Fanny Rice, taken around 1890 by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company as part of an "Actresses" series used to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. Editor: It feels so poised, almost theatrical. She’s positioned elegantly, seemingly caught mid-gesture. I am curious, however, about the narrative implicit in this very conventional yet alluring, even fantastical image. Curator: I agree. Consider the production of such an image. We have photography reproduced on cardboard—cheaply made to be inserted into packs of cigarettes, ephemeral. A deliberate conflation of high-class theatrical performance and everyday consumption, and further, what would have the cost to produce it have been, relatively speaking? It’s a sign of how tobacco companies insinuated themselves into daily life and commerce. Editor: Indeed. I immediately focus on her gaze and pose. Note her slightly lifted finger and almost wistful expression, suggestive of storytelling or revelation. Also note how she is adorned, but partially obscured. The hat, dress and wrap speak volumes. What archetypes were at play for audiences of the time? Curator: The textures also tell a story. You've got the glossy finish of the card, the almost ghostly drapery, the fuzzy texture of her hat. Each detail required labor. The weaving of lace on her dress and the fact that they are trying to translate textures onto card from the photographed performance says volumes about what this producer thought the consumers valued at the time. It becomes very much tied to gender as a consumable item, like the cigarette itself. Editor: And the cigarette acting as an amulet. A tradeable commodity offering passage into a seductive narrative. I'm also struck by the relatively plain backdrop – was that intentional, do you think? Did it focus the viewers eye and create some distance between subject and her world? Curator: I think that that tension is absolutely critical to unpacking this piece. We are invited to scrutinize Rice in fine detail—yet the materials say otherwise. The mass-produced nature removes it from traditional portraiture. What is valued: art, the craft, the celebrity, or perhaps a strange hybrid of the three packaged into a smokeable and affordable product? Editor: Exactly! Perhaps a new goddess for a modern age, born from the smoke and mirrors of nascent consumer culture. Curator: A tantalizing possibility, highlighting how deeply entwined materiality, labor, and representation became in the late 19th century. Editor: I shall keep this in mind when someone offers me a cigarette!