Lisbets DeBoreff, from the Actresses series (N203) issued by Wm. S. Kimball & Co.
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 5/8 × 1 3/8 in. (6.6 × 3.5 cm)
Classification
Ephemera|Photographs
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
63.350.216.203.439
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the glittering world of late 19th-century theater with *Lisbets DeBoreff, from the Act series (N203)*, a charming commercial color lithograph produced William S. Kimball & in 1889. This petite portrait (just 2 5/8 × 1 3/8 inches) captures the allure of a popular actress, embodying the era's obsession with stage stars as cultural icons. Kimball, a Rochester-based tobacco firm, issued these cards as promotional inserts in cigarette packages, sparking a collecting craze among Victorians who traded them like modern trading cards. Crafted via chromolithography—a cutting-edge technique th...
About the Artist
William S. Kimball & Company
**William S. Kimball & Company**, a pioneering American tobacco manufacturer, was established in 1846 in Rochester, New York, by William S. Kimball and James C. Hart. The firm quickly grew into one of the city's largest employers, particularly of women, producing popular brands like Peerless chewing tobacco, Rigatta and Fireside smoking tobacco, and Vanity Fair cigarettes. Under Kimball's leadersh...