Currier and Ives
Currier and Ives was an American printing company based in New York , which was headed by the lithographer Nathaniel Currier (1813-1888) and his partner James Ives (1824-1895). The company was founded in 1835 and had to cease operations in 1907. The prints are still popular today, and high prices are sometimes paid for originals at auctions.
history
Currier first worked in the company Stodart & Currier as a printer before settling in 1835 under the name N. Currier independently made. No pictures were printed in newspapers, yet people longed to see pictures of the news they read. The first print produced was of the collapse of a New Orleans hotel which, of fifty people trapped, could be salvaged alive.
In 1852, Currier hired auditor James Ives. Book printing also became more efficient thanks to the enormously improved bookkeeping . In 1857, Currier equated him and made him his partner. They remained good friends until the rest of their lives.
Mass medium
Currier and Ives described themselves and their company as publishers of cheap and popular pictures. Her pictures grew in popularity and were bought many times. During the company's existence from 1835 to 1907, over a million prints were sold, which were set and hand-painted by a staff of printers. This was done on a kind of assembly line work, in which mostly German immigrant women pushed the print one after the other, each having a single color to paint.
The pictures depicted many events in American life. Winter scenes, horse races , pictures of people and ships, sporting events and especially scenes from the American Civil War were particularly popular .
End of the company
After Currier's death in 1888, Ives continued to run the company until his death in 1895. Due to improvements in printing and especially the emerging photography, public interest in lithographs waned. This led to the closure of the company in 1907.
Today, original Currier and Ives prints are extremely sought after by collectors, and modern reproductions are popular decorative objects. Winter scenes, which are depicted on most American Christmas cards, are particularly popular.
