Currier and Ives facts for kids
Currier and Ives was a famous printmaking company in New York City. It operated from 1835 to 1907. Nathaniel Currier started the company. They made and sold many affordable, hand-painted pictures called lithographs. These pictures showed news events, popular culture, and scenes of American life. They called themselves "the Grand Central Depot for Cheap and Popular Prints." In 1857, the company's name changed to "Currier and Ives" when James Merritt Ives became a partner.
Contents
The Story of Currier and Ives
Nathaniel Currier's Early Life
Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888) was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts. He was the second of four children. When Nathaniel was eight, his father died. This meant Nathaniel and his older brother had to help support their family.
At age fifteen, Nathaniel began working in a lithography shop in Boston. This was the start of his career. In 1833, he moved to Philadelphia for work. In 1834, he started a partnership with a printmaker named Stodart in New York. They made different print products, including music. Nathaniel was not happy with the business, so he ended the partnership in 1835. He then started his own shop called "N. Currier, Lithographer."
In 1835, Nathaniel made a lithograph showing a big fire in New York City. This picture sold thousands of copies very quickly. Currier realized people wanted pictures of current news. So, he made more prints about disasters and other events. One famous print was "Awful Conflagration of the Steam Boat Lexington" from 1840. It was so popular that he got a weekly spot in New York Sun newspaper. Around this time, Currier's company started focusing on publishing its own prints.
Partnership with James Merritt Ives
The name Currier and Ives first appeared in 1857. This was when Currier invited James Merritt Ives (1824–1895) to become his partner. Ives was the company's bookkeeper and accountant. Nathaniel Currier noticed Ives's hard work and his good ideas about what people would like.
Ives quickly became the general manager. He improved the company's finances and how they organized their prints. Ives also helped Currier choose new artists and decide which images to publish. He was good at knowing what was popular. He helped the company create prints of political jokes and sweet scenes, like sleigh rides and steamboat races. In 1857, Currier made Ives a full partner.
How the Company Worked
Currier and Ives called themselves "Publishers of Cheap and Popular Prints." They published at least 7,500 different lithographs during their 72 years of business. Artists created two to three new images every week for 64 years. They produced over a million prints that were colored by hand.
Currier and Ives worked with many famous artists. Some of these included James E. Buttersworth, George Inness, and Thomas Nast. Key artists for the company were Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait, who drew sports scenes, and Louis Maurer, who drew everyday life. George Henry Durrie created winter scenes. Frances Flora Bond Palmer drew beautiful American landscapes. She was the first woman in the United States to earn a living as a full-time artist.
Making the Prints
All lithographs were made using special lithographic limestone printing plates. An artist drew the image directly onto the stone. It often took over a week to prepare a stone for printing. Each print was then pulled by hand.
After printing, the pictures were colored by hand. A group of women, often immigrants, did this work. They worked like an assembly line, with each person adding one color. They were paid $6 for every 100 colored prints. The colors used were clear and simple, and the drawings were bold.
At first, prints were black and white and then colored by hand. Later, new techniques allowed them to print in full color. Skilled artists like John Cameron and Fanny Palmer became known for their work. Their names often appeared on important pieces.
Currier and Ives was the most successful lithography company in the U.S. Their prints showed all parts of American life. These included hunting, fishing, city life, country scenes, and historical events. They also showed clipper ships, yachts, steamships, and railroads. Other topics included politics, comedy, and winter scenes.
From 1866 on, the company had three floors in a building in New York:
- Hand-operated printing presses were on the third floor.
- Artists, stone grinders, and lithographers worked on the fourth floor.
- Colorists worked on the fifth floor.
Small prints sold for five to twenty cents each. Larger prints sold for $1 to $3. Currier and Ives sold prints from their main shop. They also sold them through street vendors, peddlers, and bookstores. They sold both retail and wholesale. They had stores across the country and in London. They also sold prints by mail and internationally.
People in the 1800s loved these prints. They were interested in current events and enjoyed sentimental pictures. Currier and Ives prints were very popular for decorating homes. In 1872, the company proudly said their prints were "in great demand in every part of the country."
Nathaniel Currier died in 1888. James Ives continued to work until his death in 1895. Their sons took over the business. However, the company eventually closed in 1907. This was because new printing methods like offset printing and photoengraving became popular.
The Lithographs
The prints showed many different parts of American life. These included winter scenes, horse-racing images, portraits of people, and pictures of ships. They also showed sporting events, patriotic scenes, and historical events. These included battles of the American Civil War, the building of cities and railroads, and Lincoln's assassination.
Currier and Ives also produced some prints that were not respectful, especially in a series called the Darktown Comics. These pictures showed African Americans in demeaning ways. They made fun of them for white audiences. These types of images were popular in the 1800s. Many of these images can still be seen today.
Original lithographs had certain features in their ink and paper. The sizes of the images were standard. These sizes help collectors today tell if a print is original. Early prints used cotton-based paper. After 1870, they used paper mixed with wood pulp. Currier's inking also had a unique look.
In 1907, the company closed. Most of the printing stones had their images removed and were sold. Some even ended up as landfill in Central Park. A few stones survived intact. These included large pictures of Clipper Ships and some of the "Darktown Comics."
Today, original Currier and Ives prints are highly valued by collectors. Modern copies are also popular decorations. The winter scenes are especially popular and are often used for American Christmas cards. In 2019, a print of Across the Continent by Fanny Palmer sold for over US$60,000.
About the Darktown Comics
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Currier and Ives aimed their prints at middle-class American customers. Because of this, their prints show what American values were like in the 1800s. This included the racism of the time. Of about 500 "comic prints" made by Currier and Ives, more than half were the "Darktown Comics." These prints used exaggerated and disrespectful humor.
The Darktown Comics series was one of Currier and Ives's bestsellers. At least one print sold 73,000 copies. Every print in the series was very popular. One example is a picture that changed the Statue of Liberty image. It showed an African American woman, similar to the mammy figure, holding a torch as part of the Darktown Comics series.
Gallery of images
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Explosion Aboard the USS Princeton, 1844
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John Brown on his way to his execution, 1859.
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Destruction of the Rebel Monster "Merrimac" off Craney Island, May 11th 1862
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The Falls of Niagara—From the Canada Side, 1868
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City of New York—Showing the building of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. No. 120 Broadway, 1883
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The Life of a Fireman, lithograph by Louis Maurer for Currier and Ives
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Across the Continent: Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way by Fanny Palmer (1868)
See also
In Spanish: Currier & Ives para niños
