Miss Van Oster, from the Actresses series (N246), Type 1, issued by Kinney Brothers to promote Sporting Extra Cigarettes 1888 - 1892

Curator: There’s a lovely stillness about this piece, like capturing a whisper on film. Editor: Indeed. We are looking at “Miss Van Oster,” a vintage albumen print dating back to somewhere between 1888 and 1892. It’s one of a series called “Actresses,” distributed by Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company as promotional material for their Sporting Extra Cigarettes. You can find it at the Metropolitan Museum of Art here in New York. Curator: So, she was selling cigarettes! Or, rather, her image was. There's a kind of ethereal beauty that contrasts so strongly with the gritty business of tobacco. It's slightly melancholic, wouldn't you say? The faded tones only amplify that feeling. Editor: Absolutely, that’s part of what makes these commercial portraits so interesting. They offered the general public a rare peek into the lives, or at least the constructed image, of prominent figures, especially actresses. Curator: It's so intimate. There's a real sense of someone being caught unaware, or at least, pretending to be. Editor: And that constructed intimacy served a very specific purpose, which was selling a product! By associating the actress with their brand, Kinney Brothers were implicitly selling aspiration, beauty, success – all wrapped up in a cigarette pack. This "Miss Van Oster" card is fascinating as an early example of celebrity endorsement and the mass production of desire. These kinds of images also circulated through different technologies— photography was not the only form! There were drawings and other prints. Curator: It's strange to think that this small token once lived inside a cigarette pack, and now, look at her, in a museum, an object of art in her own right. It is quite moving. Editor: Precisely! It tells us so much about the society that produced it. Thinking about it more, these cigarette cards highlight how intertwined art, commerce, and social identities were at the end of the 19th century, shaping both cultural values and consumer behavior. It’s an amazing piece. Curator: Agreed! I think my feelings changed with this dialogue, now the melancholy gives way to marvel, imagining how one object carries such a rich history in it.