Happy New Year, from the New Years 1890 series (N227) issued by Kinney Bros.
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 1 1/2 × 2 3/4 in. (3.8 × 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, N227.3
Tags
Art Historical Context
Welcome to the Metropolitan Museum of's Drawings and Prints department, where showcase intriguing ephemera like *Happy New Year* from the New Years 0 series (N227), issued by the Kinney Tobacco Company in 1889–90. This commercial color lithograph, measuring just 1 1/2 × 2 3/4 inches, was likely a collectible insert tucked into cigarette packs—a clever marketing tactic by late 19th-century tobacco to build brand loyalty among smokers and enthusiasts alike. Crafted via chromolithography, a pioneering technique for vibrant, mass-produced color printing, the card captures a festive still life of ...
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...