Currier and Ives was a New York City
printmaking
Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed techniq ...
business that operated between 1835 and 1907. Founded by
Nathaniel Currier
Nathaniel Currier (March 27, 1813 – November 20, 1888) was an American lithographer. He headed the company Currier & Ives with James Ives.
Early years
Currier was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, to Nathaniel and Hannah Currier. He attended ...
, the company designed and sold inexpensive, hand painted
lithographic
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...
works based on news events, views of popular culture and
Americana
Americana may refer to:
*Americana (music), a genre or style of American music
*Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States
Film, radio and television
* ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...
. Advertising itself as "the Grand Central Depot for Cheap and Popular Prints," the corporate name was changed in 1857 to "Currier and Ives" with the addition of
James Merritt Ives
James Merritt Ives (March 5, 1824 – January 3, 1895) was an American lithographer, bookkeeper, and businessman. He oversaw the business and financial side of the firm, Currier and Ives, which he co-managed with his business partner, Natha ...
.
A perennial bestselling series was the
Darktown Comics
Darktown Comics is a series of Currier and Ives prints first produced in the 1870s that depicted racist vignettes ostensibly portraying a Black American town. It was a perennial bestseller for the New York-based firm, with some prints selling 73,0 ...
lithographs.
Currier's early history
Nathaniel Currier (1813–88) was born in
Roxbury, Massachusetts
Roxbury () is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood within the City of Boston, Massachusetts.
Roxbury is a Municipal annexation in the United States, dissolved municipality and one of 23 official neighborhoods of Boston used by the city for n ...
, on March 27, 1813, the second of four children. His parents Nathaniel and Hannah Currier were distant cousins who lived a humble and spartan life. Tragedy struck when Nathaniel was eight years old, when his father unexpectedly died, leaving Nathaniel and his eleven-year-old brother Lorenzo to provide for the family: six-year-old sister Elizabeth and two-year-old brother Charles, as well as their mother.
Nathaniel worked a series of odd jobs to support the family and, at fifteen, he started what became a lifelong career when he apprenticed in the Boston lithography shop of William and John Pendleton.
[The Currier and Ives Foundation,]
The history of Currier & Ives
In 1833 at age twenty, he moved to Philadelphia to do contract work for M.E.D. Brown, a noted engraver and printer.
[Bob Brooke,]
Currier's early lithographs were issued under the name of Stodart & Currier, a result of the partnership that he created in 1834 with a local New York printmaker named Stodart. The two men specialized in "job" printing and made a variety of print products, including music manuscripts. Currier became dissatisfied with the poor economic return of their business venture and ended the partnership in 1835. He set up shop alone, working as "N. Currier, Lithographer" until 1856.
In 1835, he created a lithograph that illustrated a fire sweeping through New York City's business district. The print of the Merchant's Exchange sold thousands of copies in four days. Currier realized that there was a market for current news, so he turned out several more disaster prints and other inexpensive lithographs that illustrated local and national events, such as "''Ruins of the Planter's Hotel, New Orleans, which fell at two O’clock on the Morning of May 15, 1835, burying 50 persons, 40 of whom Escaped with their Lives''.
He quickly gained a reputation as an accomplished lithographer.
In 1840, he produced "Awful Conflagration of the
Steam Boat ''Lexington''", which was so successful that he was given a weekly insert in the ''
New York Sun
''The New York Sun'' is an American online newspaper published in Manhattan; from 2002 to 2008 it was a daily newspaper distributed in New York City. It debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of the earlier New York ...
''. In that year, Currier's firm began to shift its focus from job printing to independent print publishing.
[Biography](_blank)
at answers.com
The partnership with Ives
![View on the Harlem River 1852](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/View_on_the_Harlem_River_1852.jpeg)
The name Currier & Ives first appeared in 1857, when Currier invited the company's bookkeeper and accountant James Merritt Ives (1824–95) to become his partner. Ives was born on March 5, 1824, in New York City, and he married Caroline Clark in 1852. She was the sister-in-law of Nathaniel's brother Charles Currier, and it was Charles who recommended Ives to his brother. Nathaniel Currier soon noticed Ives's dedication to his business, and his artistic knowledge and insight into what the public wanted. The younger man quickly became the general manager of the firm, handling the financial side of the business by modernizing the bookkeeping, reorganizing inventory, and streamlining the print process.
Ives also helped Currier interview potential artists and craftsmen. He had a flair for gauging popular interests and aided in selecting the images that the firm would publish and expanding the firm's range to include political satire and sentimental scenes, such as sleigh rides in the country and steamboat races. In 1857, Currier made Ives a full partner.
[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]
Currier and Ives
The firm
The firm Currier and Ives described itself as "Publishers of Cheap and Popular Prints". At least 7,500 lithographs were published in the firm's 72 years of operation. Artists produced two to three new images every week for 64 years (1834–1895),
producing more than a million prints by hand-colored
lithography
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...
. For the original drawings, Currier & Ives employed or used the work of many celebrated artists of the day including
James E. Buttersworth,
Charles R. Parsons,
George Inness
George Inness (May 1, 1825 – August 3, 1894) was a prominent United States, American landscape painting, landscape painter.
Now recognized as one of the most influential American artists of the nineteenth century, Inness was influenced b ...
,
Thomas Nast
Thomas Nast (; ; September 26, 1840December 7, 1902) was a German-born American caricaturist and editorial cartoonist often considered to be the "Father of the American Cartoon".
He was a critic of Democratic Representative "Boss" Tweed and ...
,
C.H. Moore, and
Eastman Johnson
Jonathan Eastman Johnson (July 29, 1824 – April 5, 1906) was an American painter and co-founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, with his name inscribed at its entrance. He was best known for his genre paintings, paintings of ...
.
The stars of the firm were
Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait
Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait (February 5, 1819April 28, 1905) was a British-American artist who is known mostly for his paintings of wildlife. During most of his career, he was associated with the New York City art scene.
Life and career
Tait was b ...
, who specialized in sporting scenes;
Louis Maurer
Louis Maurer (February 21, 1832 – July 19, 1932) was a German-born American lithographer, and the father of the American painter Alfred Henry Maurer. He was the last surviving artist known to have been employed by Currier and Ives. Prior ...
, who executed
genre scenes
Genre art is the pictorial representation in any of various media of scenes or events from everyday life, such as markets, domestic settings, interiors, parties, inn scenes, work, and street scenes. Such representations (also called genre works, ...
;
George H. Durrie, who supplied winter scenes; and
Frances Flora Bond Palmer
Frances Flora Bond Palmer (July 24, 1812 – August 20, 1876), often referred to as Fanny Palmer, was an English artist who became successful in the United States as a lithographer for Currier and Ives.
Early life
Frances "Fanny" Flora Bond, late ...
, who liked to do picturesque panoramas of the American landscape, and who was the first woman in the United States to make her living as a full-time artist.
All lithographs were produced on
lithographic limestone
Lithographic limestone is hard limestone that is sufficiently fine-grained, homogeneous and defect free to be used for lithography.
Geologists use the term "lithographic texture" to refer to a grain size under 1/250 mm.
The term "sublithog ...
printing plates on which the drawing was done by hand. A stone often took over a week to prepare for printing. Each print was pulled by hand. Prints were hand-colored by a dozen or more women, often immigrants from Germany with an art background. They worked in assembly-line fashion, one color to a worker, and who were paid $6 for every 100 colored prints. The favored colors were clear and simple, and the drawing was bold and direct.
The earliest lithographs were printed in black and then colored by hand. As new techniques were developed, publishers began to produce full-color lithographs that gradually developed softer, more painterly effects. Skilled artist lithographers such as John Cameron, Fanny Palmer, and others became known for their work and signed important pieces. Artists such as A. F. Tait became famous when their paintings were reproduced as lithographs.
Currier and Ives was the most prolific and successful company of lithographers in the U.S. Its lithographs represented every phase of American life, and included the themes of hunting, fishing, whaling, city life, rural scenes, historical scenes,
clipper ship
A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. Clippers were generally narrow for their length, small by later 19th century standards, could carry limited bulk freight, and had a large total sail area. "Cl ...
s,
yacht
A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...
s,
steamship
A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...
s, the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
,
Hudson River
The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
scenes, railroads, politics, comedy, gold mining, winter scenes, commentary on life, portraits, and still lifes.
From 1866 on, the firm occupied three floors in a building at 33 Spruce Street in New York:
*Hand-operated printing presses occupied the third floor.
*Artists, stone grinders, and lithographers worked on the fourth floor.
*Colorists worked on the fifth floor.
Small works sold for five to twenty cents each, and large works sold for $1 to $3 apiece. The Currier and Ives firm branched out from its central shop in New York City to sell prints via pushcart vendors, peddlers, and book stores. The firm sold retail as well as wholesale, establishing outlets in cities across the country and in London. It also sold work through the mail (prepaid orders only), and internationally through a London office and agents in Europe.
The 19th-century Victorian public was receptive to the firm's products, with its interest in current events and sentimental taste. Currier and Ives prints were among the most popular wall hangings of the day.
In 1872, the Currier and Ives catalog proudly proclaimed: "our Prints have become a staple article... in great demand in every part of the country... In fact without exception, all that we have published have met with a quick and ready sale."
Currier & Ives prints were among the household decorations considered appropriate for a proper home by
Catharine Esther Beecher and
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American author and abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and became best known for her novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (1852), which depicts the harsh ...
, authors of ''American Woman's Home'' (1869): "The great value of pictures for the home would be, after all, in their sentiment. They should express the sincere ideas and tastes of the household and not the tyrannical dicta of some art critic or neighbor."
Currier died in 1888. Ives remained active in the firm until his death in 1895. Both Currier's and Ives's sons followed their fathers in the business, which was eventually
liquidated
Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistr ...
in 1907. The public demand for lithographs had gradually diminished because of improvements in
offset printing
Offset printing is a common printing technique in which the inked image is transferred (or "offset") from a plate to a rubber blanket and then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithographic process, which is based on t ...
and
photoengraving
Photoengraving is a process that uses a light-sensitive photoresist applied to the surface to be engraved to create a mask that protects some areas during a subsequent operation which etches, dissolves, or otherwise removes some or all of the mat ...
.
The lithographs
![Charles R](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Charles_R._Parsons%2C_%22Central-Park%2C_Winter-_The_Skating_Pond%22.jpg)
The prints depicted a variety of images of American life, including winter scenes,
horse-racing
Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...
images,
portrait
A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...
s of people, and pictures of ships, sporting events, patriotic, and historical events, including ferocious battles of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, the building of cities and railroads, and Lincoln's assassination. Currier and Ives also produced many prints that were inherently racist in nature, particularly in a series of prints called the
Darktown Comics
Darktown Comics is a series of Currier and Ives prints first produced in the 1870s that depicted racist vignettes ostensibly portraying a Black American town. It was a perennial bestseller for the New York-based firm, with some prints selling 73,0 ...
. They depicted African Americans in very demeaning ways, making a very clear mockery of them to their white counterparts. These types of images were popular in the 19th century and in high demand. Many of these images are still readily available to view and purchase.
The original lithographs shared similar characteristics in inking and paper, and adhered to folio sizes. Sizes of the images were standard (trade cards, very small folios, small folios, medium folios, large folios), and their measurement did not include the title or borders. These sizes are one of the guides for collectors today in determining if the print is an original or not. "Currier used a cotton based, medium to heavy weight paper depending on the folio size for his prints until the late 1860s. From about 1870, Currier & Ives used paper mixed with a small amount of wood pulp." In addition, Currier's inking process resembled a mixture of elongated splotches and dashes of ink with a few spots, a characteristic that modern reproductions would not possess.
In 1907, the firm was liquidated and most of the lithographic stones had the image removed and were sold by the pound, with some stones' final home being as land fill in Central Park. Those few stones that managed to survive intact were of large folio Clipper Ships, small folio Dark Town Comics, a medium folio "Abraham Lincoln" and a small folio "Washington As A Mason".
*Currier and Ives Civil War lithographs
*Known railroad related lithographs of Currier and Ives
*Currier and Ives: Perspectives on America, American Public Television, Video
*High Water in the Mississippi, 1868
*Currier and Ives
Darktown Comic Series, Albion College
Today, original Currier and Ives prints are much sought by collectors, and modern reproductions of them are popular decorations. Especially popular are the winter scenes, which are commonly used for American
Christmas card
A Christmas card is a greeting card sent as part of the traditional celebration of Christmas in order to convey between people a range of sentiments related to Christmastide and the holiday season. Christmas cards are usually exchanged during ...
s. In 2019 a print of ''Across the Continent'' by
Fanny Palmer sold at auction for over US$60,000.
Racist lithographs
Currier and Ives, because they were targeting a middle-class American customer, inadvertently created a "pictorial record" of values in the United States in the 19th century, which included contemporary racism.
According to Albert Baragwanath, of the approximately 500 "comic prints" produced by Currier and Ives, "more than half of these were the so-called Darktown Comics who humor lay in gross burlesque."
The Darktown Comics series was perennially among the bestselling of Currier & Ives' over 7000 lithographs, with at least one selling 73,000 copies via pushcarts and in shops and country stores.
According to J. Michael Martinez, every one of the series was a bestseller.
Thomas Worth recreated a previous Statue of Liberty image using an African American woman similar to the
mammy figure holding a torch as part of their
Darktown Comics
Darktown Comics is a series of Currier and Ives prints first produced in the 1870s that depicted racist vignettes ostensibly portraying a Black American town. It was a perennial bestseller for the New York-based firm, with some prints selling 73,0 ...
series.
In popular culture
* ''Currier and Ives Suite'' (1935) is an orchestral composition by
Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in composing for films. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. He is widely re ...
.
* The 1948 holiday song "
Sleigh Ride
"Sleigh Ride" is a light orchestra standard composed by Leroy Anderson. The composer had formed the original idea for the piece during a heat wave in July 1946, and he finished the work in February 1948. The original recordings were instrument ...
" includes the line, "It'll nearly be like a picture print by Currier and Ives".
* A 1960 episode of the
Twilight Zone, ''
A Stop at Willoughby
"A Stop at Willoughby" is episode 30 of the American television anthology series ''The Twilight Zone''. Rod Serling cited this as his favorite story from the first season of the series.
Opening narration
Plot
Gart Williams is a contemporary New ...
'', refers to the eponymous town as being "like something out of a Currier and Ives painting".
* The
Haunted Mansion
The Haunted Mansion is a dark ride attraction located at Disneyland, Magic Kingdom, and Tokyo Disneyland. The haunted house attraction features a ride-through tour in Omnimover vehicles called "Doom Buggies", and a walk-through show is displa ...
Holiday at
Disneyland
Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney in ...
Park makes reference to Currier and Ives. When guests enter the ballroom scene the ghost host says, "All at once, happy haunts did materialize, like a nightmarish painting by Currier & Ives."
* In
Walter Tevis
Walter Stone Tevis (February 28, 1928 – August 9, 1984) was an American novelist and short story writer. Three of his six novels were adapted into major films: '' The Hustler'', '' The Color of Money'' and '' The Man Who Fell to Earth''. A four ...
's short story collection ''Far from Home'', Currier and Ives prints appear in "Echo" and "A Visit from Mother".
* In ''
The West Wing
''The West Wing'' is an American serial (radio and television), serial political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the ...
''s fifth-season episode "Abu El Banat", First Lady Abbey Bartlet says "We've never been Currier and Ives" to President Jed Bartlet while they are discussing their unconventional marriage and family life, specifically with regard to the Christmas season.
* In the 2007 horror film ''
1408'', Mike Enslin, when describing the haunted hotel room, refers to the painting of the schooner lost at sea as being "done in the predictably dull fashion of Currier and Ives".
* In the science fiction novel ''
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' (retroactively retitled ''Blade Runner: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' in some later printings) is a dystopian science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in 1968. Th ...
'' by
Philip K. Dick, the Voigt-Kampff test includes a scenario question where the person taking the test has to imagine he rents a cabin in the woods decorated with Currier and Ives prints on the walls.
Gallery of images
File:Kiss-me-quick-Currier-Ives-1840s.jpg, ''Kiss Me Quick'', 1840s
File:Explosion aboard USS Princeton.jpg, ''Explosion Aboard the USS Princeton'', 1844
File:John Brown on his way to his execution.jpg, John Brown John Brown most often refers to:
*John Brown (abolitionist) (1800–1859), American who led an anti-slavery raid in Harpers Ferry, Virginia in 1859
John Brown or Johnny Brown may also refer to:
Academia
* John Brown (educator) (1763–1842), Ir ...
as Christ, en route to his execution, 1859. Above his head, the flag of Virginia
The Seal of the Commonwealth of Virginia is the official seal of the Commonwealth of Virginia, a U.S. state. The state flag of Virginia consists of the obverse of the seal against a blue background. A state flag was first adopted at the beginnin ...
and its motto, ''Sic semper tyrannis
''Sic semper tyrannis'' is a Latin phrase meaning "thus always to tyrants". In contemporary parlance, it means tyrannical leaders will inevitably be overthrown.
The phrase also suggests that bad but justified outcomes should, or eventually will ...
'' ("Thus always to tyrant
A tyrant (), in the modern English usage of the word, is an absolute ruler who is unrestrained by law, or one who has usurped a legitimate ruler's sovereignty. Often portrayed as cruel, tyrants may defend their positions by resorting to rep ...
s"). From a now-lost original by Louis Ransom.
File:Destruction of Merrimac, May 11, 1862.png, ''Destruction of the rebel vessel '' Merrimac'' off Craney Island'', May 11, 1862
File:The Falls of Niagara-From the Canada side 1868.JPG, ''The Falls of Niagara—From the Canada Side'', 1868
File:Currier and Ives - New York showing Equitable Life building.jpg, ''City of New York—Showing the building of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. No. 120 Broadway'', 1883
File:The Life of a Fireman - Currier and Ives.png, ''The Life of a Fireman'', lithograph by Louis Maurer
Louis Maurer (February 21, 1832 – July 19, 1932) was a German-born American lithographer, and the father of the American painter Alfred Henry Maurer. He was the last surviving artist known to have been employed by Currier and Ives. Prior ...
for Currier and Ives
File:Friendship love and truth.jpg, ''Friendship love and truth''
File:Across the Continent Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way.jpg, Across the Continent: Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way by Fanny Palmer (1868)
References
Further reading
* LeBeau, Bryan F. ''Currier and Ives: America Imagined''. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2001.
* Reilly, Bernard. ''Currier and Ives: A Catalogue Raisonné''. Detroit: Gale Research, 1984.
* King, Roy and Davis, Burke ''The World of Currier & Ives''. New York: Bonanza Books, 1968.
External links
Currier and Ives Cat PrintsCurrier & Ives FoundationOnline Gallery of Currier & Ives Printso
Traditional Fine Arts OrganizationCurrier and Ives, Printmakers to the PeopleA Gallery of Currier and Ives Lithographs*
ttp://www.tfaoi.com/aa/8aa/8aa119.htm Behind the Scenes: The Artists Who Worked for Currier and IvesCurrier and Ives TradecardsHarriet Endicott Waite research material concerning Currier & Ives, 1923-1956from the Smithsonian
Archives of American Art
The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washingt ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Currier And Ives
American art
Printing companies of the United States
1834 establishments in New York (state)
19th-century American printmakers