French, from Types of Nationalities (N240) issued by Kinney Bros.
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet (Folded): 2 11/16 × 1 7/16 in. (6.8 × 3.7 cm) Sheet (Unfolded): 6 7/8 × 1 7/16 in. (17.4 × 3.7 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, N240.26
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century advertising with *French, from Types of Nationalities (240)*, a charming commercial color lithograph produced by the Kinney Brothers Company in 1890 This petite card, measuring just 2 11/16 × 1 7/16 inches when folded, was part of a popular series of collectible inserts tucked into cigarette packs. These "nationality types" cards captured exaggerated stereotypes of people from around the globe, the era's fascination with ethnography and global cultures amid expanding trade and immigration. Crafted via chromolithography—a pioneering color printing te...
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...