Nathaniel Currier

Nathaniel Currier
Nathaniel Currier
Born March 27, 1813(1813-03-27)
Roxbury, Massachusetts
Died November 20, 1888(1888-11-20) (aged 75)
Amesbury, Massachusetts
Nationality American
Field lithography
"An Available Candidate: The One Qualification for a Whig President". Political cartoon about the 1848 presidential election which refers to Zachary Taylor or Winfield Scott, the two leading contenders for the Whig Party nomination in the aftermath of the Mexican-American War. Published 1848, digitally restored.

Nathaniel Currier (March 27, 1813 – November 20, 1888) was an American lithographer, who headed the company Currier & Ives with James Ives.

Contents

Early years

Currier was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts to Nathaniel and Hannah Currier. He attended public school until age fifteen, when he was apprenticed to the Boston printing firm of William and John Pendleton. The Pendletons were the first successful lithographers in the United States, lithography having only recently been invented in Europe, and Currier learned the process in their shop. He subsequently went to work for M. E. D. Brown in Philadelphia, in 1833. The following year, Currier moved to New York City, where he was to start a new business with John Pendleton. Pendleton backed out, and the new firm became Currier & Stodart, which lasted only one year. In addition to being a lithographer, he was also a volunteer fireman in the 1850s.

Currier & Ives

In 1835, Currier started his own lithographic business as an eponymous sole proprietorship. He initially engaged in standard lithographic business of printing sheet music, letterheads, handbills, etc. However, he soon took his work in a new direction, creating pictures of current events. In late 1835, he issued a print illustrating a recent fire in New York. Ruins of the Merchant's Exchange N.Y. after the Destructive Conflagration of Decbr 16 & 17, 1835 was published by the New York Sun, just four days after the fire, and was an early example of illustrated news. In 1840, Currier began to move away from job printing and into independent print publishing. In that year, the Sun published his print Awful Conflagration of the Steam Boat 'Lexington' in Long Island Sound on Monday Eveg Jany 13th 1840, by Which Melancholy Occurrence Over 100 Persons Perished, another documentation of a news event, three days after the disaster; the print sold thousands of copies.

In 1850, James Ives came to work for Currier's firm as bookkeeper. Ives' skills as a businessman and marketer contributed significantly to the growth of the company; in 1857 he was made a full partner, and the company became known as Currier & Ives. Although best known as creators of popular art prints, such as Christmas scenes, landscapes, or depictions of Victorian urban sophistication, Currier & Ives also produced political cartoons and banners, significant historical scenes, and further illustrations of current events. Over the decades, the firm created roughly 7,500 different images.

Personal and later life

Currier & Ives' Central-Park, Winter: The Skating Pond, 1862

Nathaniel Currier was a Unitarian who first married Eliza West Farnsworth. The couple had one child, Edward West Currier. In 1847, after Eliza's death, he married Lura Ormsbee.

"Military College at Chapultepec", hand tinted lithograph published by Nathaniel Currier as a sole proprietor, c. 1847.

Currier was a friend of P.T. Barnum of Barnum and Bailey fame.

Currier was fond of fast horses, and several were kept at his Massachusetts residence in a barn he purchased, ordered dismantled, and had delivered by horse to his estate.

Currier retired from his firm in 1880, and turned the business over to his son Edward. He died eight years later on November 20, 1888, at his beloved home on Lion's Mouth Road in Amesbury, Massachusetts.


External links

References


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Nathaniel Currier — noun United States lithographer who (with his partner James Ives) produced thousands of prints signed Currier & Ives (1813 1888) • Syn: ↑Currier • Instance Hypernyms: ↑lithographer …   Useful english dictionary

  • Currier & Ives — Currier and Ives Currier and Ives était un atelier de gravure américain dirigé par Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888) et James Merritt Ives (1824–1895) qui se trouvait à New York. La société réalisa plus d un million de gravures entre 1835 et 1907. Le …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Currier and Ives — était un atelier de gravure américain dirigé par Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888) et James Merritt Ives (1824–1895) qui se trouvait à New York. La société réalisa plus d un million de gravures entre 1835 et 1907. Le Pont de Brooklyn à New York par… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Currier and Ives — A Brush for the Lead , lithograph by Currier and Ives, 1867. Currier and Ives was a successful American printmaking firm headed by Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888) and James Merritt Ives (1824–1895). Based in New York City from 1834–1907, the… …   Wikipedia

  • Currier and Ives — the lithography firm of Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives, founded originally by Currier (1835), which produced prints of American history, life, and manners. * * * partnership of Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives born March 27,… …   Universalium

  • Currier (disambiguation) — A currier is a specialist in the leather processing industry. Currier may also refer to: People: Althea Currier (born 1942), popular glamour model Andy Currier, British rugby league footballer of the 1980s and 90s Bill Currier (born 1955), former …   Wikipedia

  • Currier and Ives — Three Jolly Kittens, ein Beispiel für Drucke von Currier and Ives Currier and Ives war eine US amerikanische Druckerei mit Sitz in New York City, welche von dem Lithografen Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888) und seinem Partner James Ives (1824–1895)… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Currier & Ives — ▪ American lithographers       firm whose lithographs were among the most popular wall hangings in 19th century America. The prints of Nathaniel Currier (b. March 27, 1813, Roxbury, Mass., U.S. d. Nov. 20, 1888, New York, N.Y.) and James Merritt… …   Universalium

  • Nathaniel — /neuh than yeuhl/, n. 1. Bartholomew (def. 1). 2. a male given name: from a Hebrew word meaning gift of God. * * * (as used in expressions) Bacon Nathaniel Behrman Samuel Nathaniel Bowditch Nathaniel James Nathaniel Brown Nathaniel Adams Coles… …   Universalium

  • Currier and Ives — the lithography firm of Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives, founded originally by Currier (1835), which produced prints of American history, life, and manners. * * * Currier and Ives [Currier and Ives] a US company (1835–1907) that produced …   Useful english dictionary

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