Cape May, New Jersey, from the Surf Beauties series (N232), 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, N232.7
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of late 19th-century American advertising with *Cape May, New Jersey* from the *Surf Beauties* series (N232), a tiny gem produced by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company in 1889. This commercial color lithograph, measuring just 2 3/4 × 1 1/2 inches, captures a stylish woman in seaside attire against the backdrop of Cape May, New Jersey—a premier Victorian resort known for its pristine beaches and grand hotels. Issued as collectible inserts in Kinney's tobacco products, these cards were part of a popular trend where cigarette packs doubled as trading card albums, enti...
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...