Torquay, from the Fancy Bathers series (N187) issued by Wm. S. Kimball & Co.
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 11/16 × 1 1/2 in. (6.9 × 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
63.350.216.187.43
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the late 19th century, tobacco companies like Wm.. Kimball & Co. advertising with vibrant collectible cards tucked into cigarette packs. *Torquay, from the Bathers series (N)*, issued in 1889, this trend. This petite commercial color lithograph ( 2 11/16 × 1 1/2 inches) likely depicts elegant women in seaside bathing attire at Torquay, the glamorous English Riviera resort popular among Victorians. Part of a series romanticizing leisure and beauty, it captured the era's fascination with emerging beach culture and feminine allure. Chromolithography, the medium here, allowed for mass-produced...
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...