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

Editor: Here we have a photograph of Ada Somers from the Actresses series, created around 1890 by Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company. It's a promotional print, originally distributed with Sweet Caporal cigarettes. The faded sepia tone gives it a wonderfully antique feel... kind of dreamlike. What catches your eye about this portrait? Curator: Oh, the ephemeral quality, definitely. Imagine holding that tiny card, smelling the tobacco... Ada emerging from a cloud of smoke, an idol conjured by habit! The soft focus and sepia tones were deliberately romantic, even bordering on Pre-Raphaelite aesthetics. This isn't just selling cigarettes; it's selling aspiration, beauty, a little bit of magic, wouldn’t you say? What does her gaze suggest to you? Editor: Hope, perhaps? She seems to be looking slightly upwards, into the distance. Curator: Precisely! It's an upward gaze carefully constructed by the photographer. And to think these images probably shaped perceptions of actresses for so many! Ada, poised between reality and fantasy. Did the cigarette buyers pause to consider the real Ada Somers, or was she just another fleeting image, like a dissipating cloud of smoke? Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Editor: It does. Thinking about how temporary fame can be, even now with the internet. It’s definitely more than just an old photograph, really. Curator: Absolutely. History whispered through tobacco cards. Food for thought.