House in Alaska, from the Habitations of Man series (N113) issued by W. Duke, Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Smoking and Chewing Tobacco
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 1/8 × 2 1/2 in. (10.5 × 6.4 cm)
Classification
Prints|Ephemera
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, Gift of Jefferson R. Burdick
Accession Number
63.350.206.113.6
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
About this artwork
This Commercial color lithograph by The Giles Company|W. Duke, Sons & Co.|American Tobacco Company from 1890 exemplifies historical artistic production through its materials, techniques, and aesthetic approach. Created within specific cultural and historical contexts, works like this reflect both individual artistic vision and broader patterns of workshop practice, patron expectations, and prevailing aesthetic theories. The medium of Commercial color lithograph required specialized knowledge dev...
Art Historical Context
Step into the world of 1890s American advertising with *House in Alaska* from the *Habitations Man* series (N). This petite commercial color lithograph, just 4 1/8 × 2 1/2 inches, was produced by The Giles Company W. Duke, Sons & Co.—soon to become the American Tobacco Company—to promote their Long Cut Smoking and Che Tobacco. Likely a collectible insert in tobacco packages, it showcases a rustic dwelling, highlighting diverse global architectures in a pocket-sized format captivated everyday collectors. Chromography, the era's printing technique, brought this image to life multiple layers of color applied by hand on stone plates, requiring skilled mastery for mass production. These ephemera cards blended education and commerce, sparking interest in far-flung cultures like Alaska's indigenous or frontier homes amid America's Gilded Age expansion. They reflect workshop precision and the era's booming consumer culture, where tobacco giants used eye-catching visuals to build brand loyalty. Preserved in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Jefferson R. Burdick Collection—a treasure trove of American prints—this piece offers a window into late-19th-century tastes, technical ingenuity, and the human fascination with "habitable" wonders worldwide. It reminds us how everyday objects carried beauty, knowledge, and promotion in equal measure.
About the Artist
The Giles Company|W. Duke, Sons & Co.|American Tobacco Company (American|American) · 1870 |1800 –1920 |1900
New York and Durham, N.C.|New York, NY