Say what? Currier and Ives printed kitschy pictures of idealistic American life that never really existed. By their own advertising, they marketed “cheap and popular pictures” for the masses. How is it possible that they led a visual media revolution? I’m not going to tell you that they were more than a company that sold “cheap and popular pictures.” I am going to tell you that’s exactly why they changed the face of visual media.
In a recent PBS three-part series called Currier and Ives: Perspectives on America, we get a closer look at the men behind the company and find greater appreciation for their accomplishments. Nathanial Currier was born in 1813, and his father died when Nat was only 8 years old. That forced him to go to work at an early age, which just happened to be at a print shop. James Ives came on the scene 20 years after Currier was well established in a probable act of nepotism.
In 1834, Nathanial Currier was visiting with the editor of the New York Sun when the steamboat Lexington exploded off Long Island with the loss of 120 people. Legend has it that he casually suggested to the editor that a picture could accompany the sensational story. Weeks later, the newspaper was still selling copies of that issue and couldn’t keep up with demand. News was no longer just information. It was entertainment. The public could not just hear or read the news, they could see it.
Currier was already well established doing pictures of big news events or disasters. When Jim Ives came on the scene they expanded their catalog even more. At one point they were turning out two or three pictures a week of everything under the sun: sports, food, home life, health issues, social commentary, comics and even some risqué images. This was the 19th century’s version of cable TV. There was something for everyone to look at and everyone could afford it. It was a true media revolution.
Currier and Ives were also a product of their times. They employed a female lithographer named Fannie Palmer who worked for them for 25 years and produced over 200 pictures. Her obituary never mentioned her employment, though. One of their most successful comics was called “Darktown,” about a mythical town composed entirely of bumbling, simpleton African Americans. Those images are insulting today, but then they reflected the prejudice of the times and the fear that white men would lose their jobs to newly freed slaves working cheaper.
Assuaging fear was another theme for Currier and Ives most lasting images – homey, quaint pictures of American country life. Those Christmas scenes with horse-drawn sleighs and snow-covered homes with glowing windows. Think Thomas Kincaid or a Nat King Cole song. That America never existed, but it was a comforting image. During the 19th century, Americans saw four wars, including a bloody civil war, endured financial panic, coped with new technology that made transportation easier and eliminated some manual labor. There were social issues of urban blight, freed blacks and Reconstruction. That’s a scary mix for a country barely 100 years old.
Amidst all of that, Currier and Ives gave America the print version of Walton’s Mountain. Before TV and movies, Currier and Ives introduced us to escapism. People could look at those idyllic country scenes and step away from their more complicated and stressful real lives. That’s a powerful image. So, don’t dis the kitsch. Some of their hand-tinted lithographs are gorgeous works of art.
Good night John-boy.
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Dana B. Shoaf said:
They are gorgeous works of art, I’m a big fan of Currier and Ives and have several originals framed in my house. Those lithographs are also an excellent representation of democracy in action. They allowed decoration and illustration to enter the homes of common Americans. Art was not longer just for wealthy people who could afford portraits. The average person could afford a colorful C&I Litho for their wall.
March 26th, 2009 at 3:00 pm