Louisiana, from the Industries of States series (N117) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Tobacco
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 3/16 × 2 1/2 in. (10.6 × 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
63.350.206.117.18
Tags
Art Historical Context
This petite chromolithograph, titled *Louisiana* from the *Industries States* series (N), was produced in 1889 by W. Duke, Sons & Co., a leading American tobacco manufacturer. Issued as a promotional trade card for "Honest Long Cut Tobacco," it the Gilded Age's vibrant advertising culture. These small cards (just 4 3/16 × 2 1/2 inches) were distributed in cigarette packs, encouraging collectors to amass full sets celebrating each state's industries. The imagery likely features symbolic women with shields, evoking allegorical pride in Louisiana's economic vitality—perhaps nodding to its sugarca...
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...