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

Curator: There’s a sepia dreaminess about this piece, isn’t there? It's “Margaret Robinson, from the Actresses series,” a photograph created around 1890 by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company, as a promotional item for their Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. Editor: A little square of history that once came with your nicotine fix. I like her open, slightly cheeky smile. A candid shot from the stiff Victorian era. Curator: It’s more staged than candid, I suspect. But the illusion is lovely. The series itself is fascinating. The rise of mass media and the celebrity culture of the stage actresses became commodities to boost product sales. This sort of artwork says so much about the era. Editor: Absolutely. A cultural artifact wrapped up as product promotion. I can’t help but wonder what Margaret herself thought of this, being transformed into an emblem for tobacco? Did she even smoke? The picture suggests a lifestyle of leisure and luxury which certainly ties into selling smokes, but I bet she had no ownership in her visual narrative. Curator: The actress trade cards were huge at the time. A lot of our modern advertising imagery started right there. Editor: It brings up interesting questions about the representation of women in commercial art, though, and whose stories are told. Who controlled the image, then and even now. She’s trapped on a card handed out by the Kinney Brothers, forever young, and eternally marketing their brand. Curator: A lovely face trapped in a cultural moment, mediated by corporate desires, like many others that would come after. Still, it offers a glimpse, albeit a mediated one, into a fascinating woman's visage and bygone age. Editor: Well, she still has the loveliest of smiles that breaks the filter, whatever else remains concealed. Curator: Agreed, and worth a thought on its own merits even after all these years!