Newport, Rhode Island, from the Surf Beauties series (N232), issued by Kinney Bros.
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 3/4 × 1 1/2 in. (7 × 3.8 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
Burdick 218, N232.6
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century advertising with *Newport, Rhode Island a gem from the *Surf Beauties* seriesN232), issued by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company 1889. This commercial color lithograph, just 2¾ × 1½ inches, was designed as a collectible insert card tucked into cigarette packs. It captures the allure of women in profile, poised amid seaside sports, evoking the glamorous beach culture of Newport, Rhode Island—a playground for America's Gilded Age elite. Chromolithography, the era's cutting-edge printing technique, brought these tiny scenes to life with bold, jewel-li...
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...