Card Number 23, cut-out from banner advertising the Opera Gloves series (G29) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 3 1/8 x 1 3/4 in. (8 x 4.5 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
63.350.202.29.23
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of late 19th-century advertising *Card Number 23*, charming cut-out from a banner promoting Allen & Ginter's Opera series (G29) cigarette cards. Produced around 1890 by the innovative American Tobacco Company, this commercial color lithograph (just 3 1/8 x 1 3/4 inches) captures the elegance of women's fashion, showcasing stylish gloves perfect for opera evenings. These ephemera were part of a booming trend in collectible inserts tucked into cigarette packs, enticing smokers with colorful, themed series. Chromolithography, the medium here, revolutionized mass print...
About the Artist
Allen & Ginter|American Tobacco Company
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...