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

Curator: This sepia-toned image from around 1890 captures the actress Laura Maxwell. It comes from a series of prints and photographs created by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company to promote their Sweet Caporal Cigarettes, part of a larger set called the Actresses series, which also goes by "N245". Editor: My immediate impression is one of constrained power. The tightly buttoned jacket, the crossed arms—it feels both confident and confined. Curator: Indeed, the visual symbolism contributes significantly to the impression you get. Her attire, for example, isn't necessarily what you would imagine an actress would wear for publicity. There is something of a martial quality here, evoking perhaps a sense of authority. Editor: And I am interested in the means of production. These cards were printed and distributed on a mass scale, cheap ephemeral objects designed for mass consumption. It highlights the blurring of lines between celebrity, art, and commodity that was beginning to take hold in the late 19th century. I wonder how the material scarcity in accessing photos may affect people’s experience and cultural memory with photography. Curator: It certainly shows us how images function to encode aspiration. In terms of the more esoteric symbolism, what comes to mind is the figure of Pallas Athena, who, while frequently depicted in armor, embodies artistic endeavors alongside warfare and strategy. Maxwell here embodies a similar kind of protean virtue. Editor: I agree—but let's not forget the actual labor. Photography then wasn't the instantaneous act it is now. Each of these photos was posed, printed and packaged as essentially throwaway items within cigarette packs. I am curious about Laura Maxwell's compensation, for example. Curator: The Kinney Brothers definitely harnessed photography's inherent capabilities of the photograph and the printing processes themselves, mass producing countless cards depicting popular actresses for commercial benefit. This speaks volumes about how imagery rapidly shapes and reinforces social perceptions of women, even up to the present. Editor: Looking at her portrait today definitely prompts a reconsideration of mass production, advertisement, celebrity, and consumption, especially considering the medium of photography. Curator: The nuances of this particular piece, as an index of visual rhetoric, encourages all sorts of complex lines of interpretation for contemporary minds. Editor: Absolutely. Hopefully we have provided our listeners with some entry points that speak to both material realities, but also conceptual potentials.