Annie St. Tel, from the Actresses series (N245) issued by Kinney Brothers to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes

Art Historical Context

Step into the vibrant world of 1890s advertising with *Annie St. Tel, the Actresses series (245)*, a petite albumen photograph issued by Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company promote their Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. just 2½ × 1⅜ inches, this card captures the poised elegance of actress Annie St. Tel, of many celebrated performers featured in the series. Tobacco companies like Kinney Brothers these collectible "cigarette cards" as clever marketing tools, enticing smokers with glamorous portraits tucked inside cigarette packs. By 1890, such ephemera had become a cultural phenomenon, blending celebrity worship with consumer promotion and sparking a trading card craze among enthusiasts. Produced via the albumen printing process—using egg whites to bind light-sensitive chemicals to paper—this card exemplifies the era's photographic innovation, yielding sharp, richly toned images ideal for mass reproduction. Kinney Brothers stood out for their high-quality designs, often chromolithographed, but this photographic example highlights the shift toward realism in portraiture. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department as part of the Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, it reflects the intersection of commerce, theater, and visual culture, offering a window into how actresses like St. Tel embodied modern femininity and star power for everyday audiences.

About the Artist

Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company · 1869–2011

**Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company (1869–2011)** Founded around 1869 by Francis Sherwood Kinney in New York City, the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company quickly rose to prominence in the burgeoning American cigarette industry. Francis, a pioneering tobacco manufacturer, experimented with hand-rolled cigarettes using blends of Turkish and Virginia tobacco, scaling to mass production by employing Europ...