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

This calling card featuring Mlle Rordame was produced by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company as a promotional item for Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. It’s a mass produced albumen print, a process that involves coating paper with egg white to create a glossy surface for the photographic image. The choice of this particular photographic printing process is interesting, because it allowed for mass production while retaining a sense of detail. Kinney Brothers used relatively new industrialized photographic techniques as a way to get their product out into the world. The card wasn't meant to be precious, yet it represents a fascinating intersection of advertising, celebrity culture, and the burgeoning culture of mass production in the late 19th century. The card underscores how industrialization infiltrated everyday life, blurring the boundaries between art, commerce, and popular culture. It invites us to reflect on the labor involved in both its production and consumption.