Portrait of woman, from the Novelties series (N228, Type 2) issued by Kinney Bros.
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet (Round): 1 9/16 × 1 9/16 in. (4 × 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, N228.66
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century advertising with this charming *Portrait of a Woman* from Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company's Novelties series (N, Type 2), in 1889. Issued as collectible inserts in cigarette packs these tiny chromolithographs—measuring just 1 9/16 inches in diameter—were part of a booming trend in tobacco ephemera. Kinney Bros., a prominent American tobacco firm, capitalized on the era's collecting craze, enticing smokers with colorful cards featuring portraits of women, akin to modern trading cards. Crafted via commercial color lithography, a revolutionary techniqu...
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...