I Cannot Sing the Old Songs, from the Illustrated Songs series (N116) issued by W. Duke, Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Tobacco
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 1/4 × 2 1/2 in. (10.8 × 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
63.350.206.116.2
Tags
Art Historical Context
Created in 1893 by the commercial lithography firm George S. Harris & Sons for W. Duke Sons & Co., this color lithograph belongs to the “Illustrated Songs” seriesN116). The card was inserted into packages of Honest Long Cut Tobacco a popular marketing tactic that turned everyday smoking products into miniature collectibles. Measuring just 4¼ by 2½ inches, the print uses the vibrant hues and crisp registration made possible by late-nineteenth-century color lithography to reach a mass audience. The title quotes a well-known sentimental ballad of the era, suggesting the image of a woman in profi...
About the Artist
W. Duke, Sons & Co.|George S. Harris & Sons|American Tobacco Company · 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...