Two Paths, from the Magic Changing Cards series (N223) issued by Kinney Tobacco Company

Art Historical Context

"Two Paths" is a captivating example from the *Magic Changing Cards* series (N223), produced by the Kinney Brothers Company in 1889 These small chromolithographed cards were promotional inserts packaged with Kinney's tobacco products, designed to entice collectors—often children—with their interactive "magic" feature. When tilted or viewed from different angles, the image transforms, revealing two contrasting scenes symbolizing life's diverging paths. The tag "Women" highlights the central female figure, likely embodying Victorian-era moral dilemmas such as virtue versus temptation, a common theme in period ephemera. Printed as commercial color lithographs on a diminutive sheet (2 3/4 × 1 1/2 in.), these cards showcase the era's lithographic innovation, using multiple color stones for vivid, inexpensive reproductions. This technique democratized colorful imagery, bridging fine art and mass marketing, and foreshadowed modern advertising collectibles like cigarette cards. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department from The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, "Two Paths" preserves a slice of Gilded Age consumer culture. Burdick's vast archive of ephemera underscores how everyday objects carried artistic and social weight, offering visitors a playful glimpse into 19th-century ingenuity and values.

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...