Toboggan, from the Novelties series (N228, Type 4) issued by Kinney Bros.

Art Historical Context

Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century advertising with *Toboggan*, a charming commercial color lithograph from Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company's Novelties series (N, Type 4), produced in 1889. This tiny gem, measuring just 2 3/4 × 1 inches, was designed as ephemera—likely a collectible insert tucked into cigarette packages to entice smokers and spark a collecting frenzy among enthusiasts. Tagged with "Girls," it the playful spirit of winter leisure, depicting young girls enjoying the thrill of tobogganing, a nod to emerging recreational trends in Victorian America. Chromolithography, the medium here, revolutionized commercial printing by allowing vivid, multi-color images to be mass-produced affordably, making art accessible beyond elite galleries. Kinney Bros., a prominent tobacco firm, leveraged this technique across their innovative card series, blending marketing savvy with cultural snapshots. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, this piece comes from The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection—a legendary 30,000-item gift that cataloged American ephemera, preserving everyday treasures like this one. Today, *Toboggan* offers a window into Gilded Age nostalgia, where tobacco promotions doubled as portals to joy and collectibility, reminding us how fleeting ads became enduring art.

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...