Helena Dacre in Colors of Eastern Yacht Club, from the Yacht Colors of the World series (N140) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Tobacco
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 in. × 2 1/2 in. (10.1 × 6.3 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
63.350.207.140.70
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the late 19th century, American tobacco companies like W. Duke, Sons & Co. revolutionized marketing with colorful collectible cards inserted into cigarette packs, turning everyday purchases into a hunt for rarities. This vibrant commercial color lithograph, *Helena Dacre in of Eastern Yacht Club*, is part of the *Yacht Colors of the World* series (N140) from 1890, promoting Honest Long Cut Tobacco. Measuring just 4 x 2½ inches, it captures the elegant profile of a woman—likely symbolizing the yacht *Helena Dacre*—adorned with the Eastern Yacht Club's distinctive flag colors, evoking the gla...
About the Artist
W. Duke, Sons & Co. · 1870–1920
**W. Duke, Sons & Co.: Pioneers of Chromolithographic Trade Card Art** W. Duke, Sons & Co., an American tobacco manufacturer, emerged from the entrepreneurial vision of Washington Duke (1820–1905) and his sons in Durham, North Carolina. After the Civil War, Washington abandoned farming in 1874 to join his eldest son, Brodie L. Duke, in the burgeoning tobacco trade, establishing a factory that for...