Card Number 21, cut-out from banner advertising the Opera Gloves series (G29) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes

Art Historical Context

Step into the vibrant world of late 19th-century advertising with *Card Number 21*, diminutive cut-out from a promoting the Opera Gloves series (G29 by Allen & Ginter Cigarettes. Produced around 1890, commercial color lithograph measures just 3 1/8 x 1 3/4 inches, capturing a stylish female profile that embodies the era's fascination with fashion and femininity. Part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Jefferson R. Burdick Collection treasure trove of American ephemera gifted by the pioneering collector—this piece highlights how tobacco companies transformed everyday promotions into collectible art. Allen & Ginter, pioneers in the American tobacco industry, revolutionized marketing by issuing themed card series inserted into cigarette packs, fostering brand loyalty among collectors. The Opera Gloves series evoked the glamour of high society, linking elegant accessories like opera gloves to the allure of smoking culture. Chromolithography, the medium here, allowed for vivid, mass-produced colors that mimicked fine paintings, making these tiny prints accessible luxuries. Today, this ephemera reveals the intersection of commerce, gender ideals, and emerging consumer culture in Gilded Age America, reminding us how advertising shaped desires one colorful profile at a time.

About the Artist

Allen & Ginter|American Tobacco Company

Allen & Ginter, the pioneering American tobacco firm based in Richmond, Virginia, emerged around 1880 from the partnership of John F. Allen and Lewis Ginter, evolving from Allen's earlier John F. Allen & Company. Allen retired in 1882, succeeded by John Pope, yet the brand endured under Ginter's leadership, employing over 1,100 workers—mostly women—for hand-rolled cigarettes by 1886. Ginter, a Dut...