Torquay, France, from the Surf Beauties series (N232), issued by Kinney Bros.
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 3/4 × 1 1/2 in. (7 × 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
Burdick 218, N232.4
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of late 19th-century advertising with *Torquay, France a charming chromolithograph from the " Beauties" series (232), issued by theney Brothers Tobacco Company in1889. This petite print, measuring just 2 3/4 × 1 1/2 inches, captures the elegant profile of a woman, evoking the era's fascination with seaside glamour and feminine beauty. Produced as ephemera—likely aible insert in cigarette packs—these cards were a clever marketing ploy to entice smokers and spark a collecting craze among enthusiasts. Chromolithography, the medium here, revolutionized commercial print...
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...