Torquay, France, from the Surf Beauties series (N232), issued by Kinney Bros.

Art Historical Context

Step into the vibrant world of late 19th-century advertising with *Torquay, France a charming chromolithograph from the " Beauties" series (232), issued by theney Brothers Tobacco Company in1889. This petite print, measuring just 2 3/4 × 1 1/2 inches, captures the elegant profile of a woman, evoking the era's fascination with seaside glamour and feminine beauty. Produced as ephemera—likely aible insert in cigarette packs—these cards were a clever marketing ploy to entice smokers and spark a collecting craze among enthusiasts. Chromolithography, the medium here, revolutionized commercial printing with its ability to layer vivid colors from multiple lithographic stones, creating affordable, eye-catching images that mimicked fine art. Kinney Bros., a prominent American tobacco firm, used such series to glamorize their brand, blending emerging beach culture with idealized portraits of women in profile, a pose that highlighted fashionable silhouettes and hairstyles of the Gilded Age. Today, this delicate piece resides in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, part of The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection—a treasure trove of over 30,000 trade cards gifted in 1948. It offers a window into Victorian leisure trends and the artistry of everyday commerce, reminding us how even tiny prints shaped popular culture.

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...