Happy New Year, from the New Years 1890 series (N227) issued by Kinney Bros.

Art Historical Context

Welcome to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints collection, where we spotlight *Happy New Year* from the New Years 0 series (N227), issued by the Kinney Tobacco Company around 1889–90. This petite commercial color lithograph, measuring just 1 1/2 × 2 3/4 inches, captures the festive spirit of the Gilded Age's turn-of-the-century celebrations. Produced by a prominent New York tobacco firm, it served as a promotional insert in cigarette packs, blending holiday cheer with clever marketing to delight smokers and collectors alike. Chromolithography, the innovative printing technique used here, revolutionized commercial art by enabling vibrant, multi-color reproductions at scale—perfect for ephemera like trade cards. Featuring men and women in period attire, the card reflects Victorian-era social norms and the era's obsession with New Year's goodwill, a time when such tokens were exchanged as affordable tokens of affection. Kinney Bros., famed for their Sweet Caporal brand, issued numerous themed series, turning everyday products into cultural keepsakes. Generously gifted through The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, this tiny gem highlights how advertising intertwined with popular art, preserving slices of 19th-century American life for us to savor today. (198 words)

About the Artist

Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company · 1869–2011

**Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company (1869–2011)** Founded around 1869 by Francis Sherwood Kinney in New York City, the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company quickly rose to prominence in the burgeoning American cigarette industry. Francis, a pioneering tobacco manufacturer, experimented with hand-rolled cigarettes using blends of Turkish and Virginia tobacco, scaling to mass production by employing Europ...