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

Curator: Here we have a cabinet card from 1890 by Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company. Part of the Actresses series, it’s titled "Mlle. Shery, from the Actresses series (N245)" and it seems to be a photogravure based on a photographic portrait. What’s your take on this, right off the bat? Editor: I find it remarkably poised and strangely suggestive. It presents us with an idealized figure, yet there's a rough texture to the print, especially around the edges. It speaks of mass production, of accessibility. Curator: Indeed. The contrast of the sepia tones is striking, highlighting the sitter's corseted form. The pearls around her neck and the gesture of lifting them draw our attention to her. Semiotically, it functions on many levels of seduction. Editor: I see the materiality of the card itself, how its age is evident, how the cheap card stock speaks to the intention of these collectible images for tobacco products. These images of actresses were a commodity. What did it mean to be so visible and consumable? Curator: Quite so. The photograph itself captures a controlled studio environment. The backdrop is simple, almost a blank canvas upon which her carefully constructed image is projected. Editor: Consider the labor. From the factories where tobacco was processed, to the photographer producing likenesses and the factory where these images were churned out... the means of creating these little icons are really involved and easy to overlook if you are simply appreciating the sitter’s carefully-staged aesthetic. Curator: True. One almost forgets that Mlle. Shery’s own labour as an actress in the theatre played an essential role in crafting her desirability as an advertising token for Kinney Brothers’ Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. Editor: Yes! To look closely and to see beyond the actress’s manufactured beauty is, for me, to become aware of production systems—the layers and conditions required to bring forth even so modest a portrait, or photograph. Curator: It's fascinating how the constraints of form contribute to the message itself. Editor: A humble portrait. Curator: Made all the more interesting because of its simplicity and structural ingenuity.