Painting easel, from the Novelties series (N228, Type 4) issued by Kinney Bros.
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 1/16 × 1 9/16 in. (5.2 × 3.9 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, N228.184
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century American advertising with *Painting Easel* from Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company's Novelties seriesN228, Type 4), a diminutive 1889 commercial color lithograph measuring just over 2 by 1.5 inches. Produced as collectible ephemera—likely inserted into cigarette packs—this charming print captures the era's fascination with novelty cards, blending everyday scenes with colorful allure to entice consumers and budding collectors. Chromolithography, the innovative color printing technique used here, allowed for vivid, mass-produced imagery at low cost, revo...
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...