Bolivia, from the Dancing Girls of the World series (N185) issued by Wm. S. Kimball & Co.

Art Historical Context

Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century advertising with *Bolivia, from the Girls of the World seriesN185)*, a charming commercial color lithograph produced by William S. Kimball & Company in 1889. This print, measuring just 2 11/16 × 1 1/2 inches, captures a stylized Bolivian dancer, embodying the exotic allure that captivated Victorian audiences. Issued as part of a popular tobacco insert series, it invited collectors to amass these tiny treasures from cigarette packs, blending commerce with cultural curiosity. Chromolithography, the medium here, revolutionized mass printing by layering colors for vivid, inexpensive reproductions—perfect for promotional ephemera. Kimball, a prominent cigar manufacturer, used such cards to boost brand loyalty, drawing on global stereotypes of "dancing girls" to evoke far-flung locales like Bolivia. This reflects the era's fascination with ethnography and entertainment, where small images fueled parlor games and scrapbooks. Today, housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Jefferson R. Burdick Collection—a gift of the pioneering card collector—this piece highlights ephemera's artistic merit. It reminds us how everyday objects preserved snapshots of imperial imagination, celebrating women dancers while revealing the commercial artistry of Gilded Age America.

About the Artist

William S. Kimball & Company · 1850–1950

**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...