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

This photograph of Bessie Linch comes to us from the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company, part of a series used to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. The image, printed on a small card, served as a collectible, a bit like baseball cards today. Think about the process: a photographic studio, likely employing numerous workers, mass-producing these images using industrial methods. It’s a far cry from the hand-painted portraits of earlier eras. The material itself – a thin, easily reproducible card – speaks to the ephemerality of celebrity culture. The photograph captures Linch in a moment of posed elegance, yet it's also a carefully manufactured image, designed to associate glamour with a mass-produced product. This card reminds us that even seemingly simple images are tied to larger systems of labor, consumption, and the ever-blurring lines between art and commerce. Appreciating these linkages allows us to understand the full meaning of this artwork.