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

Curator: Well, here’s a fascinating little gem. What do you think? Editor: Faded, sepia-toned wistfulness, wouldn’t you say? The way the light catches in her hair…it’s almost a memory trying to solidify. Curator: Precisely! This is "Miss Patrice" from the Actresses series, an albumen print produced around 1890 by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company. It was made to promote their Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. Editor: Ah, yes, the ever-charming marriage of art and commerce! But looking at her...it’s more than just marketing, isn’t it? The photographic gaze captures a soft, almost melancholic, aura. Curator: Absolutely. If we look closely, the framing creates an intimate encounter, but there’s something about her expression that hints at something carefully composed for public view. The sharp angles around her face emphasize those features, a strategic artistic element. Editor: It makes you wonder, doesn't it, about the person behind the image? About what was real and what was performative, especially during this romanticized time period. How was she told to pose? How did that make her feel? Curator: Those albumen prints, a hybrid medium really—photography but then imbued with drawing techniques – offer a singular texture of early portraiture. It represents not just her likeness but, the cultural moment—a romanticized aesthetic that blends art with life and the ephemeral nature of fame. Editor: In many ways, I appreciate the beauty that lies within the ephemerality. It speaks volumes of that past. Curator: Indeed. And her somewhat demure expression, typical of the romanticism genre, almost invites you to wonder, “What was she like?” What’s the narrative woven into her features? The formal, yet softening romantic filter invites projection—on the sitter and on a rapidly transforming cultural landscape. Editor: Such thoughtful observations. A window into the past but with so much room for interpretation still. Curator: Exactly, and this is part of what makes her presence, and the whole collection that this print is a part of so unforgettable, decades later. It keeps evolving in significance!