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

Editor: So, this is a print from 1890, featuring Emma Warde. It’s from the “Actresses” series by Kinney Brothers, promoting their Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. It's an albumen print, so, photography… advertising… that combination is intriguing. What do you see when you look at this piece? Curator: Immediately, I see a collision of forces: commodification, representation, and labor. Kinney Brothers used photography, a relatively new medium, to create desire around their product, linking the glamour of actresses to the habit of smoking. This wasn’t just about selling cigarettes; it was about manufacturing an aspirational lifestyle through visual culture. Editor: Lifestyle, yes, and what about the photograph as a material object in and of itself? Curator: Absolutely! The albumen print itself, created through a chemical process, reveals the labor involved – from the photographer, to the darkroom technicians, to the workers who assembled these cards for insertion into cigarette packs. Each print represents a tangible piece of a vast industrial process aimed at capturing and disseminating an image of femininity tied to consumption. Editor: It’s like, the print embodies the intersection of art, commerce, and gender, packaged for mass consumption. I wonder, was Warde compensated well for her image? Curator: That's a critical question! Exploring the economic realities for these actresses – often vulnerable workers in precarious circumstances – offers insight into the larger social and economic forces at play. What power did they really wield? Editor: It changes the way you look at it. Thanks! Curator: My pleasure. It shows us art in a capitalist framework, ripe for critical analysis.