Painting easel, from the Novelties series (N228, Type 5) issued by Kinney Bros.
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 7/8 × 1 9/16 in. (7.3 × 4 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, N228.218
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century American advertising with *Painting Easel* from Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company's Novelties series (228, Type 5), a diminutive commercial color lithograph in 1889. Measuring just 2 7/8 × 1 9/16 inches, this ephemera likely served as a collectible insert tobacco products, captivating smokers and children alike with its charming depiction—suggested by tags of women's profiles, perhaps evoking the artistic pursuits of the era. Lithography, a revolutionary printing technique, enabled the mass production of vivid, multi-colored images on a budget, transf...
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...