W.A. Rowe, Champion Bicycle Rider, from the Champions of Games and Sports series (N184, Type 2) issued by W.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
63.350.216.184.26
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century ephemera with *W.A. Rowe, Champion Bicycle*, a colorful trade card from W.S. Kimball & Co.'s *Champions of Games and Sports* series (N184, Type 2), issued in 1887. Produced as a promotional insert for tobacco products, this petite chromolithograph (just 2 11/16 × 1 1/2 inches) celebrates W.A. Rowe, a star cyclist amid the bicycle boom of the Gilded Age. Cycling had exploded in popularity, transforming from a novelty into a competitive sport that captivated urban crowds and symbolized speed and modernity. Crafted via commercial color lithography—a gr...
About the Artist
W.S. Kimball & Co.
William S. Kimball & Co. was a tobacco manufacturer based in Rochester, New York, whose influence extended well beyond the cigarette trade into the realm of popular visual culture. Founded in 1846 by William S. Kimball and James C. Hart, the company grew into one of the largest tobacco concerns in the United States, erecting a landmark factory along the Erie Canal on Court Street in 1880. The buil...