Grève d' Azette, from the Fancy Bathers series (N187) issued by Wm. S. Kimball & Co.

Art Historical Context

Step into the whimsical world of 19th-century advertising with *Grève d'Azette*, a charming commercial color lithograph from the Fancy Bathers series (N), produced by William S. Kimball & Company 1889. This print (just 2 11/16 × 1 1/2 inches) captures elegant women in profile, likely enjoying a leisurely beach day at Grève d'Azette, a picturesque sandy shore in Jersey's Channel Islands. Part of a popular tobacco insert series, it reflects the era's fascination with seaside leisure and idealized feminine beauty, rendered in vibrant chromolithography—a technique that brought affordable, colorful imagery to the masses. Chromolithography, perfected in the late 1800s, allowed Kimball, a Rochester-based cigarette manufacturer, to mass-produce these eye-catching cards as promotional giveaways. Collected avidly by enthusiasts, they bridged commercial ephemera and popular art, showcasing delicate lines and vivid hues that mimicked fine painting. Today, housed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, *Grève d'Azette* highlights how everyday objects preserved cultural snapshots of Victorian escapism and emerging consumer culture. (198 words)

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...