Currier & IvesLithographic Printers of America

Nathaniel Currier – Born 1813 in Roxbury Massachusetts.

Went to school until he was 14. He was interested in lithography and become an apprentice.

Lithography is a printmaking process. It was one of the only ways to make copies of pictures.

Currier started his own business in New York. When he started a terrible fire burned acres of valuable land in the city. Rumors spread about what burned and how much land was ruined.

Currier had a lithographic print made that showed a picture of the actual fire.

He sold thousands and become known for his lithographs.

As Currier became more successful he saw how people’s curiosity was satisfied by seeing actual drawings of important events.

Five years later, a large steamboat full of passengers sunk in the Sound. Currier rushed to print a color picture of the disaster with a description of the event. So many people were affected by the sinking that he had to keep his presses running day and night to keep up with the demands.

Currier eventually hired a bookkeeper named James Ives. James had studied art and had a good sense for what people wanted to see. After three years, Ives Joined Currier as a partner and learned how to produce lithographs. They were partners for more than 30 years.

Currier and Ives were artists and did create their own drawings, they mostly were involved in the decisions of what to print, titles of prints and running the business. They had artists who worked for them. Women worked to paint colors on the prints. The prints were inexpensive, selling from 15-25 cents. They were sold in stores, from pushcarts, and traveling salesmen.

Currier and Ives prints were bought all over America; by barber shops and hotels, by the rich and the poor. Everone wanted to purchase an inexpensive picture. Currier and Ives knew what people wanted to see and the process they preserved historical events of the time as well as what life looked like in the 19th century.

Title: “Rocky Mountains, Emigrants Crossing the Plain” Date: 1866Artist: FF Palmer, A British Woman