Saint Malo, from the Fancy Bathers series (N187) issued by Wm. S. Kimball & Co.

Art Historical Context

Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century advertising with *Saint Malo, from Fancy Bathers series (187)*, a charming commercial color lithograph produced by William S. Kimball & Company in 1889. This card (just 2 11/16 × 1 1/2 inches) captures the allure of seaside leisure, likely depicting elegant women in bathing attire at the fashionable French resort of Saint-Malo. Issued as part of a popular tobacco company's promotional series, these "Fancy Bathers" were collectibles tucked into cigarette packs, blending escapism with brand marketing during the Gilded Age. Chromolithography, the medium here, was a breakthrough in affordable color printing, allowing vivid hues and intricate details to be mass-produced. Kimball & Co., a Rochester-based firm, excelled in this technique to entice collectors with glamorous vignettes of Victorian women enjoying resort life—a nod to emerging tourism and changing social norms around leisure and fashion. These ephemera reflect how everyday commerce fueled pop culture, turning advertising into art. Today, this gem resides in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, a treasure trove of American print ephemera. It invites us to ponder how such tiny prints captured the era's dreams of sun-kissed freedom. (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...