Sitting Bull, North American Chief, from the Savage and Semi-Barbarous Chiefs and Rulers series (N189) issued by Wm. S. Kimball & Co.
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 11/16 × 1 1/2 in. (6.8 × 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
63.350.216.189.1
Tags
Art Historical Context
This petite chromolithograph, measuring just 2⅝ × 1½ inches, captures the dignified profile of Sitting Bull, the Hunkpapa Lakota, as part of the "Savage and Semi-Barous Chiefs and Rulers series (N189). in 1888 by the Wm. S. Kimball &. tobacco company, these trading cards were tucked into cigarette packs as clever marketing ploys, sparking a collecting craze among Americans eager for glimpses of exotic "world rulers." The series' title reflects the era's ethnocentric lens, framing Indigenous and non-Western figures through a lens of curiosity and otherness. Sitting Bull, immortalized here in v...
About the Artist
William S. Kimball & Company
**William S. Kimball & Company**, a pioneering American tobacco manufacturer, was established in 1846 in Rochester, New York, by William S. Kimball and James C. Hart. The firm quickly grew into one of the city's largest employers, particularly of women, producing popular brands like Peerless chewing tobacco, Rigatta and Fireside smoking tobacco, and Vanity Fair cigarettes. Under Kimball's leadersh...