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

Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company produced this portrait of Lillian Russell as part of their Actresses series, using a sepia-toned print. The composition centres on Russell, her form sculpted through light and shadow, creating a classical triangular structure from her head to the base of her dress. The monochromatic palette reduces the image to its fundamental forms and tonal relationships, and the eye is drawn to the texture of her dress, a field of tiny dots that suggest depth. Observe the tension between surface and depth, flatness and volume, a common theme in the late 19th-century exploration of representation. The sepia tone, while conventional, also serves to historicize Russell, turning her into an icon even as she was then a contemporary figure. Consider how this use of reproducible media challenges notions of originality, and how the formal elements of texture and tonality work together to flatten and monumentalize, pointing towards the shifts in artistic and cultural values of the era.