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

Editor: Here we have a print from 1890 titled "Annie Russell, from the Actresses series", created by Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company. It's a delicate portrait. It looks like a photograph but the description also says drawing and print… What stands out to you? Curator: What fascinates me is how these small, mass-produced cards blur the lines between art, advertising, and popular culture. Kinney Brothers were fundamentally using photography, drawings, and print technologies for mass consumption, specifically to sell Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. Annie Russell’s image, divorced from the stage and re-contextualized, becomes a commodity itself. Editor: So, her likeness is the draw, literally. Curator: Precisely. These "actress" cards capitalized on celebrity culture, attracting consumers by associating the cigarettes with glamour and fame. What was the labor involved in producing and distributing these cards on such a scale? We can look to that to really analyze this object. It connects the artistic rendering of an actress, photography as reproduction, and labor relations within the tobacco industry. Editor: It makes me think about what aspects of artistry are valued, and who benefits. Are we celebrating art or are we boosting tobacco sales? Curator: The real art here is how industry reshaped popular tastes through a kind of marketing! These portraits served as a form of social currency too. Can you imagine how many were collected, traded, discussed... Editor: Right, you can follow the threads of the card's journey. Looking at it this way provides an incisive peek into 19th-century material culture! Curator: Yes! A valuable intersection of commerce, representation, and industrial practice, all condensed onto a little card.