Chief of the Watuta Tribe, Africa, from the Savage and Semi-Barbarous Chiefs and Rulers series (N189) issued by Wm. S. Kimball & Co.

Art Historical Context

This vibrant commercial color lithograph, titled *Chief of the Watuta Tribe, Africa*, is part of the *Savage and Semi-Barous Chiefs and Rulers series (N189), in 1888 by the Wm. S. Kimball &. tobacco company. Measuring just 2 11/16 × 1 1/2 inches, it captures portrait of a tribal leader in vivid detail, reflecting the era's fascination with "otherness." Produced as collectible trade cards bundled with cigarettes, these prints fueled the late-19th-century craze for album collecting among Americans, blending advertising with armchair exploration. Chromolithography, the medium here, was a breakthrough in color printing, allowing mass production of eye-catching images from stone plates inked with multiple hues. Kimball's series exoticized global figures, portraying them through a Western lens amid colonial expansion and imperial exhibitions like those at world's fairs. Today, it offers insight into Victorian-era stereotypes and the commodification of distant cultures. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Jefferson R. Burdick Collection—a treasure trove of ephemera—this tiny print highlights how everyday commerce shaped popular imagery, bridging art, history, and consumer culture.

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...