State Arms of Texas, from the Military Series (N224) issued by Kinney Tobacco Company to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes 1888

The Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company produced this small chromolithograph, State Arms of Texas, as a promotional item for Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. Chromolithography was the cutting edge of reproductive technology at the time, involving the use of multiple lithographic stones, one for each color. The final image is a composite of these layers. The result is a smooth, almost seamless image, which disguises the immense labor that went into its making. While today this card might seem inconsequential, mass-produced images like this one had a huge cultural impact. They democratized image consumption and tied it to habits of commodity consumption. They also employed many workers, often women, in factories. So, even this seemingly minor object speaks to transformations in labor, politics, and consumption in the late nineteenth century. It shows us that, by looking closely at materials and making, we can expand our understanding of art history.