With Kerosene She Lit the Fire, from the Magic Changing Cards series (N223) issued by Kinney Tobacco Company

Art Historical Context

"With Kerosene She Lit Fire" is a captivating small-scale commercial color lithograph from1889, part of the Magic Changing Cards series (N) issued by the Kin Brothers Tobacco Company. Measuring just 2¾ × 1½ inches, this diminutive print belongs to the vibrant world of Victorian-era trade cards, distributed inside cigarette packs or tobacco products to entice collectors and boost brand loyalty. The dramatic title evokes a bold scene likely featuring a woman in a moment of resourcefulness or peril, aligning with the era's popular imagery of adventurous femininity. Chromolithography, the medium here, revolutionized commercial printing by enabling vivid, multi-color reproductions at low cost—a technique that made such ephemera accessible and collectible. Kinney's "Magic Changing Cards" were especially ingenious, designed to transform visually through angle shifts or other simple tricks, adding whimsy to everyday advertising. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Jefferson R. Burdick Collection—a treasure trove of American prints and ephemera—this piece highlights the intersection of commerce, popular culture, and graphic innovation in late 19th-century America, reminding us how tobacco companies shaped visual storytelling for the masses.

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...