Woman wearing blue hat with pink ribbons, from the Novelties series (N228, Type 2) issued by Kinney Bros.

Art Historical Context

Step into the vibrant world of late 19th-century advertising with *Woman wearing blue hat with pink ribbons*, a delightful gem from Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company's Novelties series (N, Type 2), produced in 1889. This petite, round commercial color lithograph—me just 1 9/16 inches across—captures a stylish female profile adorned with a striking blue hat tied in playful pink ribbons. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department as part of the Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, it exemplifies ephemera: those everyday printed treasures that once enlivened cigarette packs and sparked collecting frenzies. Chromolithography, the medium here, was a revolutionary technique of the era, allowing mass production of vivid, multi-colored images at low cost. Kinney Bros., a prominent tobacco firm, issued these "novelties" to entice smokers and build brand loyalty through fashionable vignettes of women—reflecting Victorian ideals of elegance and modernity. Such cards turned mundane purchases into collectible art, blending commerce with cultural trends in women's millinery and silhouette portraiture. Today, this tiny print offers a window into Gilded Age consumer culture, where advertising became an art form. Its preservation in Burdick's renowned gift underscores the enduring appeal of these overlooked artifacts, reminding us how everyday objects captured the spirit of their time.

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...