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
63.350.202.29.38
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th advertising with *Card Number 23,-out from banner advertising the Gloves series (G29, produced by Allen & Ginter for their cigarettes around 1890. This tiny commercial color lithograph—measuring just 3 1/8 x 1 3/4 inches—was part of a promotional banner highlighting a popular trading card series. Allen & Ginter, pioneers in the tobacco industry, revolutionized marketing by inserting collectible cards into cigarette packs, turning into avid collectors. Chromolithography, the medium here, allowed for stunning, multi-color reproductions at scale, capturing the...
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...