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

This photograph of Belle Leslie, from the Actresses series, was issued by Kinney Brothers to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. Produced using albumen silver print, a popular process in the 19th century, the image begins with coating paper with a layer of egg white and then a silver nitrate solution, creating a light-sensitive surface. It’s essentially industrial chemistry meeting studio portraiture. The result is a sepia tone, with a level of detail that would have seemed miraculous at the time. It’s important to remember that the making of photographs like these was itself an industry, part of the machinery of celebrity culture and mass consumption. These cards were not simply artworks, but marketing devices, designed to attach glamour to the everyday act of smoking. This conflation of art, labor, and commercial intent challenges traditional distinctions between high art and craft, inviting us to consider the broader economic and cultural forces at play in the creation and consumption of images.