African, from Types of Nationalities (N240) issued by Kinney Bros.
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet (Folded): 2 11/16 × 1 7/16 in. (6.8 × 3.7 cm) Sheet (Unfolded): 6 7/8 × 1 7/16 in. (17.4 × 3.7 cm)
Classification
Prints|Ephemera
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, Gift of Jefferson R. Burdick
Accession Number
Burdick 218, N240.2
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century American advertising with *African, from Types of NationalitiesN240)*, a yet poignant commercial color lithograph produced by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco in 1890. This tiny ephemera—designed to fold neatly into cigarette packs at just 2 11/16 × 1 7/16 inches—was part of a popular series depicting "types" of nationalities, reflecting the era's fascination with global diversity through trade cards. Distributed to entice collectors and boost tobacco sales, these inserts captured everyday consumers' imaginations amid the Gilded Age's booming consumer cul...
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...