Rockaway, from the Fancy Bathers series (N187) issued by Wm. S. Kimball & Co. 1889

This small lithograph was produced by the Wm. S. Kimball & Co., as part of the Fancy Bathers series. These cards were inserted into cigarette packages, a common advertising practice in the late 19th century United States. The image depicts a woman in a bathing suit, wading in the water at Rockaway Beach. The suit, while revealing by the standards of the day, still maintains a level of modesty. This reflects the changing social attitudes towards women's bodies and leisure at the time. Beaches like Rockaway were becoming popular destinations for city dwellers seeking recreation. The card’s function was to promote Kimball's cigarettes by associating them with an image of leisure, beauty, and modernity. To understand this image more fully, one might look at how advertising imagery was used to shape consumer culture at the time. Research into the history of Rockaway Beach as a resort destination would also offer insights into the social context of this image. The meaning of art is contingent on social and institutional context.