With Kerosene She Lit the Fire, from the Magic Changing Cards series (N223) issued by Kinney Tobacco Company
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, N223.28
Tags
Art Historical Context
"With Kerosene She Lit Fire" is a captivating small-scale commercial color lithograph from1889, part of the Magic Changing Cards series (N) issued by the Kin Brothers Tobacco Company. Measuring just 2¾ × 1½ inches, this diminutive print belongs to the vibrant world of Victorian-era trade cards, distributed inside cigarette packs or tobacco products to entice collectors and boost brand loyalty. The dramatic title evokes a bold scene likely featuring a woman in a moment of resourcefulness or peril, aligning with the era's popular imagery of adventurous femininity. Chromolithography, the medium ...
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...