Hora De Brien, from National Dances (N225, Type 2) issued by Kinney Bros.

Art Historical Context

Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century advertising with *Hora De Brien, National Dances (N225, Type 2)*, a charming commercial color lithograph produced by the Kinney Brothers Company in 1889 This petite card, measuring just 2 3/4 × 1 1/2 inches, was one of many inserted into cigarette packs to entice collectors and promote the brand. Part of the popular "National Dances", it captures the graceful figure of a female dancer, evoking the's fascination with folk traditions and exotic performances. Chromolithography, the medium here, revolutionized printmaking by allowing mass production of vivid, multi-colored images from stone plates—a technique perfected in the late 1800s for affordable ephemera like these trade cards. Kinney Bros. leveraged this to create collectible sets that fueled a national craze among enthusiasts, blending commerce with cultural education on global dance forms. Housed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, this piece highlights women's central role in dance imagery and the commercialization of leisure. It offers a window into Gilded Age America, where tiny prints preserved snapshots of national pride and performance artistry for everyday enjoyment.

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...