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

This is a carte-de-visite card produced by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company as an advertisement for Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. It’s made from a photographic print, adhered to card stock. The image shows Capitola Wiline, an actress, holding a lightweight wicker chair. The chair is a clue to the value system at play here: it’s crafted, relatively inexpensive, and easy to move, a far cry from the imposing thrones and luxurious furniture usually associated with celebrity. The very disposability of the card mimics the nature of celebrity itself, fleeting and ever-changing. Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company used images of actresses to market its product, capitalizing on the appeal of fame and glamour. The company also relied on cheap labor and mass production to keep costs low and profits high. The cards, themselves, were distributed widely and meant to be collected, a sign of the growing consumer culture of the time. The use of a mass-produced photograph to promote hand-rolled cigarettes reflects the blurring lines between art, commerce, and labor in the late 19th century. It challenges the idea that art is separate from everyday life, and reveals the complex relationship between creativity and consumption.