Archimedes, printer's sample for the World's Inventors souvenir album (A25) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes
1888
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 3/4 x 1 1/2 in. (7 x 3.8 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
63.350.202.25.1
Tags
Art Historical Context
This petite chromolithograph, titled *Archimedes, printer's sample for the World's Inventors souvenir album (A25)* captures the ancient Greek polymath in a dignified portrait, produced by the pioneering tobacco firm Allen & Ginter in 1888. Measuring just 2¾ x 1½ inches, it served as a proof for collectible cards inserted into cigarette packs, celebrating luminaries of innovation like Archimedes—famed for his contributions to mathematics, physics, and engineering, from the Archimedes screw to his legendary "Eureka!" moment. Allen & Ginter revolutionized marketing in the late 19th century with ...
About the Artist
Allen & Ginter
Allen & Ginter, the pioneering American tobacco firm based in Richmond, Virginia, emerged around 1880 from the partnership of John F. Allen and Lewis Ginter, evolving from Allen's earlier John F. Allen & Company. Allen retired in 1882, succeeded by John Pope, yet the brand endured under Ginter's leadership, employing over 1,100 workers—mostly women—for hand-rolled cigarettes by 1886. Ginter, a Dut...