Currier and Ives
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Currier and Ives was an American printmaking firm headed by Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888) and James Merritt Ives (1824–1895) and based in New York City.
Currier worked as a printmaker first in the firm of Stodart & Currier, and then later as "N. Currier" (1835–1856). Newspapers lacked photographs; but the public was interested in some source of pictures of recent news stories. In 1835, Currier produced the print "Ruins of the Planter's Hotel, New Orleans, which fell at two O’clock on the Morning of the 15th of May 1835, burying 50 persons, 40 of whom Escaped with their Lives", which was moderately successful.
In 1840, he produced "Awful Conflagration of the Steam Boat Lexington", which was very successful. Currier soon had a weekly insert in the New York Sun.
In 1852, Currier hired his famous counterpart, James Ives, to be his accountant. Ives showed his value by modernizing the company's bookkeeping, reorganizing inventory and streamlining the print process. Currier quickly made Ives a full partner forming the famous firm, Currier & Ives.
Currier and Ives described itself as "Publishers of Cheap and Popular Pictures". Their pictures were indeed hugely popular; in 1835–1907, Currier and Ives produced more than a million prints by hand-colored lithography. A staff of artists produced the lithographs. The colors were applied by an assembly line, typically German immigrant girls, each of whom added a single color to the print.
The prints depicted a variety of images of American life, including winter scenes; horse-racing images; portraits of people; and pictures of ships, sporting events, and ferocious battles of the American Civil War.
Currier died in 1888. Ives remained active in the firm until his death in 1895. Because of improvements in offset printing and photoengraving, the public demand for lithographs gradually diminished. Currier and Ives closed in 1907.
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 on American Christmas cards.
Mitchell Parish's lyrics to Leroy Anderson's orchestra piece "Sleigh Ride" mention the company by name, stating that a merry indoor scene at a farm during the winter will "nearly be like a picture print by Currier and Ives".
In the Sigmund Romberg musical "Up in Central Park" there was a song in the original score (but not in the film version) entitled "Currier and Ives".
In the M.G.M. film The Belle of New York starring Fred Astaire & Vera Ellen there is a musical number where they are engaged, and they go to Currier & Ives for their portrait to be painted against an autumn background scene. The musical number then fades and dissolves and continues through the rest of the seasons.
[edit] Bibliography
- LeBeau, Bryan F. Currier and Ives: America Imagined. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2001.
- Reilly, Bernard. Currier and Ives: A Catalogue Raisonné. Detroit: Gale Research, 1984.
[edit] External links
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