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

Editor: So, this is "Mlle. Manola" from 1890, part of the Actresses series by Kinney Brothers to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. It looks like a drawing combined with photography and printed… The actress seems to be holding a fan... and that’s a rather peculiar zig-zag pattern at the bottom of the dress, right? What do you make of this portrait, overall? Curator: It feels like a fleeting moment captured, doesn't it? I love the soft focus, almost dreamlike. And yes, those zig-zags… they’re bold, unexpected. It’s an advertisement, after all, vying for attention, winking through the ages. Tell me, what does Mlle. Manola *herself* seem to be telling us? Is it an invitation, perhaps? Editor: Hmmm, invitation is an interesting way of putting it... Maybe. The fan partially obscures her face... giving her a sense of mystery or concealing something. Do you think that sense of theatricality and concealment speaks to the era’s perception of actresses? Curator: Precisely! Actresses then existed in a liminal space—glamorous, yes, but also subject to judgment. They were both admired and somewhat 'othered' in society. The fan could represent her public persona, offering a glimpse but withholding the whole truth. This also taps into pictorialism where images were intentionally artistic rather than simple documentation. Are we buying cigarettes, or buying into a lifestyle here? Editor: That’s such a clever way of reading it! Seeing the actress and fan as different sides of her—a bit like the advertisement, selling one thing, hinting at another. I never would've thought of it that way on my own! Curator: That’s the fun of art, isn’t it? A little prompting can crack the shell and something truly intriguing can then slither out.