William A. Peffer of Kansas, from the Presidential Possibilities series (N124) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Tobacco
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 1/8 × 2 1/2 in. (10.4 × 6.4 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
63.350.206.124.23
Tags
Art Historical Context
This small but striking color lithograph from 1888 captures William A. Peffer, a Kansas political figure, as part of Duke Sons & Co.’s “Presidential Possibilities” series. Issued to promote Honest Long Cut Tobacco, the card was one of many inexpensive prints that cleverly blended politics with product advertising during the late nineteenth century. Measuring just over four by two-and-a-half inches, it was designed to be collected, traded, or tucked into a pocket, reflecting how everyday commercial objects helped shape public awareness of national figures. Produced through commercial color lit...
About the Artist
W. Duke, Sons & Co.|The Giles Company · 1870–1920
**W. Duke, Sons & Co.: Pioneers of Chromolithographic Trade Card Art** W. Duke, Sons & Co., an American tobacco manufacturer, emerged from the entrepreneurial vision of Washington Duke (1820–1905) and his sons in Durham, North Carolina. After the Civil War, Washington abandoned farming in 1874 to join his eldest son, Brodie L. Duke, in the burgeoning tobacco trade, establishing a factory that for...