Bayadere, from National Dances (N225, Type 2) issued by Kinney Bros.
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 3/4 × 1 1/2 in. (7 × 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
Burdick 218, N225.99
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th advertising with *Bayadere, from Dances (N225, Type 2)*, a charming commercial color lithograph produced by the Kinney Brothers Company in 1889 This petite card (just 2¾ × 1½ inches) captures the graceful form of a Bayadère traditional Indian temple dancer—frozen in an exotic pose amid swirling veils and rhythmic movement. Issued as part of the "National Dances" series it reflects the era's fascination with global cultures, packaged as collectible inserts in cigarette packs to entice smokers and spark a collecting frenzy. Chromolithography, the innovative p...
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...