Snowshoe, from the Novelties series (N228, Type 3) issued by Kinney Bros.
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 7/8 × 15/16 in. (7.3 × 2.4 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, N228.181
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century advertising with *Snowshoe, from the Novelties seriesN228, Type 3)*, a charming commercial color lithograph produced by the Kinney Brothers Company in 1889 This petite card, measuring just 2 7/8 × 15/16 inches, captures a whimsical depiction of women's footwear tagged as a "snowshoe," blending with novelty. Issued as promotional ephemera with tobacco, it reflects the era booming trade card culture, where companies like Kinney Bros. distributed collectible inserts to boost brand loyalty and spark collecting fervor among consumers. Chromolithography, ...
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...