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American Visions

The Currier & Ives Lithographic Chronicle: Documenting the American Experience Through Popular Prints.

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An Overview of Currier & Ives

A Landmark Printmaking Firm

Currier and Ives was a prominent New York City-based printmaking business that operated from 1835 to 1907. Founded initially by Nathaniel Currier, the firm became synonymous with inexpensive, hand-painted lithographic prints that captured a wide spectrum of American life, news, and culture during the 19th century. Advertising itself as "the Grand Central Depot for Cheap and Popular Prints," the company achieved widespread recognition and influence.

Documenting an Era

The firm's extensive catalog, numbering over 7,500 distinct lithographs, served as a visual chronicle of the United States. Their prints depicted everything from dramatic news events and historical moments to idyllic rural scenes, bustling city life, sporting activities, and patriotic themes. This vast output provided accessible imagery that reflected and shaped popular tastes and perceptions of the era.

Artistic and Commercial Success

Through a combination of skilled artists, efficient production methods, and astute business management, Currier and Ives became the most prolific and successful lithography company in the United States. Their ability to mass-produce and distribute affordable, appealing prints made them a household name, with their works adorning walls across the nation.

The Genesis: Nathaniel Currier's Vision

Early Life and Apprenticeship

Nathaniel Currier (1813โ€“1888) began his career at the age of fifteen, apprenticing in the Boston lithography shop of William and John Pendleton. This foundational experience in lithography set him on a path that would define American visual culture. After contract work in Philadelphia, Currier established his own lithography shop in New York City in 1835, initially operating under the name "N. Currier, Lithographer."

The Fire That Ignited a Business

A pivotal moment occurred in 1835 when Currier produced a lithograph depicting a fire that devastated New York City's business district. The print's rapid sale of thousands of copies demonstrated a significant market for contemporary news and dramatic events. This success prompted Currier to focus on producing similar "disaster prints" and other topical lithographs, shifting his business model from job printing to independent print publishing.

Capturing Current Events

Currier's ability to quickly produce and distribute prints of significant events, such as the "Awful Conflagration of the Steam Boat Lexington" in 1840, gained him considerable recognition. The success of this print led to a weekly insert in the New York Sun, solidifying his reputation as a publisher attuned to public interest and capable of capitalizing on timely occurrences.

Forging a Partnership: Ives Joins the Firm

The Arrival of James Merritt Ives

In 1857, Nathaniel Currier invited James Merritt Ives (1824โ€“1895), who had been managing the company's finances as its bookkeeper and accountant, to become a full partner. Ives, recommended by Currier's brother Charles, proved to be an invaluable asset. His keen understanding of business operations, combined with an innate sense for popular taste, significantly contributed to the firm's growth and diversification.

Strategic Acumen and Artistic Insight

Ives modernized the company's bookkeeping, reorganized inventory, and streamlined production processes. Crucially, he possessed a remarkable ability to gauge public interests, guiding the selection of images that would resonate with a broad audience. This strategic insight allowed the firm to expand its repertoire beyond news events to include sentimental scenes, political satire, and genre depictions, broadening its market appeal.

The Birth of "Currier and Ives"

The formal establishment of the partnership under the name "Currier and Ives" marked a new era for the company. This collaboration synthesized Currier's established lithographic expertise with Ives's business acumen and market sensitivity, creating a powerful synergy that would define American popular printmaking for the next half-century.

The Firm: Operations and Artistry

A Production Powerhouse

Currier and Ives operated on an industrial scale, producing an astonishing volume of prints. The firm issued an average of two to three new images weekly for 64 years, resulting in over 7,500 distinct lithographs and more than a million hand-colored prints. Their operations were centralized in a multi-story building in New York City, housing printing presses, lithographers, artists, and colorists.

The Artists Behind the Images

The firm employed or commissioned numerous talented artists of the day, including James E. Buttersworth, George Inness, Thomas Nast, Eastman Johnson, Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait, Louis Maurer, George H. Durrie, and Frances Flora Bond Palmer. These artists specialized in various genres, from sporting scenes and winter landscapes to genre paintings and panoramas, ensuring a diverse and appealing catalog.

The Lithographic Process

Each print began with a drawing executed by hand onto lithographic limestone plates. The prints were then pulled by hand from these stones. A crucial step was the hand-coloring, performed by a team of women, often immigrants with artistic backgrounds. Working in an assembly-line fashion, each colorist applied a specific hue, contributing to the vibrant, yet accessible, aesthetic of the final product.

Reaching the Masses

Priced affordably, ranging from five to twenty cents for small works and $1 to $3 for larger prints, Currier and Ives made art accessible to a broad audience. Their distribution network extended beyond their New York shop, utilizing pushcart vendors, peddlers, bookstores, and international agents, ensuring their prints became ubiquitous household decorations.

The Lithographs: A Mirror to America

Diverse Themes of American Life

The Currier and Ives catalog encompassed an extraordinary range of subjects, reflecting the multifaceted nature of 19th-century American life. Popular themes included:

  • Nature and Recreation: Hunting, fishing, whaling, idyllic rural landscapes, and dramatic winter scenes.
  • Transportation: Majestic clipper ships, steamships, and the burgeoning railroad network.
  • Historical and Political Events: Depictions of battles, significant figures like Abraham Lincoln, and patriotic imagery.
  • Urban and Rural Life: Bustling cityscapes, charming country homes, and scenes of daily activities.
  • Sports and Leisure: Horse racing, yachting, and social gatherings.

Production and Legacy

The prints were characterized by their distinctive paper composition, often a blend of cotton and wood pulp from the 1870s onward, and specific inking techniques. While the firm's output was immense, the advent of more advanced printing technologies like offset printing and photoengraving led to its liquidation in 1907. Many original lithographic stones were destroyed, but the prints themselves endure as valuable historical documents and sought-after collector's items.

Enduring Appeal

Original Currier and Ives prints remain highly prized by collectors, with certain pieces, such as Fanny Palmer's "Across the Continent," achieving significant auction prices. Their winter scenes, in particular, have become iconic, frequently reproduced on Christmas cards, demonstrating their lasting cultural resonance and ability to evoke a sense of nostalgia for a bygone era.

A Complicated Legacy: The Darktown Comics

Reflecting Societal Biases

While celebrated for documenting American life, Currier and Ives also produced prints that reflected the pervasive racism of the 19th century. A notable example is the "Darktown Comics" series, which constituted a significant portion of their "comic prints." These lithographs depicted African Americans in deeply stereotypical and demeaning ways, often portraying them in burlesque and mocking scenarios for the entertainment of white audiences.

Popularity Amidst Prejudice

Despite their offensive nature, the "Darktown Comics" were among the firm's best-selling items, with individual prints selling tens of thousands of copies. This commercial success underscores the complex relationship between popular culture, societal biases, and economic drivers in 19th-century America. The series serves as a stark reminder of the historical context in which the firm operated.

Historical Documentation

Art historians and cultural critics analyze these prints not only for their artistic merit but also as historical documents that offer insight into the prevailing social attitudes and prejudices of the time. Thomas Worth's parody of the Statue of Liberty, reimagined as a Black woman, exemplifies the problematic imagery employed within this series.

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References

References

  1.  The Currier and Ives Foundation, "The history of Currier & Ives"
  2.  Bob Brooke, "The Enduring Appeal of Currier and Ives Prints"
  3.  Biography at answers.com
  4.  Encyclopรƒยฆdia Britannica Online "Currier and Ives"
  5.  "Currier and Ives: Popular Masters of 19th Century Lithography"
  6.  Commons.wikimedia.org
A full list of references for this article are available at the Currier and Ives Wikipedia page

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