Business is Dull but He Can't Kick, from the Jokes series (N87) for Duke brand cigarettes
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
63.350.204.81.2
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 1890s advertising with *Business is Dull but He Kick*, a cheeky entry from the Jokes seriesN87) produced by W. Duke, Sons &. in collaboration with George S. & Sons. This diminutive commercial color lithograph, measuring just 2 /4 × 1 1/2 inches, was designed as a collectible insert for Duke brand cigarettes. Tobacco giants like Duke pioneered these trade cards to boost brand loyalty, transforming everyday purchases into a treasure hunt for humorous illustrations that captured the era's lighthearted wit. Chromolithography, the medium here, was a breakthrough tech...
About the Artist
W. Duke, Sons & Co.|George S. Harris & Sons · 1870–1920
**W. Duke, Sons & Co.: Pioneers of Chromolithographic Trade Card Art** W. Duke, Sons & Co., an American tobacco manufacturer, emerged from the entrepreneurial vision of Washington Duke (1820–1905) and his sons in Durham, North Carolina. After the Civil War, Washington abandoned farming in 1874 to join his eldest son, Brodie L. Duke, in the burgeoning tobacco trade, establishing a factory that for...