Fencing, from the Pretty Athletes series (N196) issued by Wm. S. Kimball & Co.

Art Historical Context

Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century ephemera with *Fencing, from the Athletes series (N196, a charming commercial color lithograph produced in 1889 by William S. Kimball & Company printed by Julius Bien &. This petite card, measuring just 3 3/4 × 2 1/2 inches, captures women engaged in the elegant sport of fencing, part of a collectible series tucked into cigarette packs to entice smokers and spark trading fervor. Issued during a tobacco boom, these cards blended promotion with popular culture, turning everyday purchases into treasures. Chromolithography, the medium here, revolutionized mass printing with its vivid, multi-layered colors applied stone by stone, allowing affordable yet eye-catching reproductions. The *Pretty Athletes* series highlighted women in dynamic sports like fencing—a rarity in 1889, when female athleticism was emerging amid shifting Victorian gender roles, often romanticized as both graceful and daring. This piece reflects that cultural pivot, idealizing athletic femininity while marketing Kimball's smokes. Today, preserved in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, it offers a window into Gilded Age collecting mania and the slow empowerment of women in sports. A delightful snippet of history in your palm!

About the Artist

William S. Kimball & Company|Julius Bien & Co. · 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...