Currier & Ives

Central Park................. 1862 titled "The Skating Pond"

Lithograph titled " A Brush For The Lead" New York "flyers" club on snow.

It is no surprise to me that our younger generation has no idea of the many famous works put out by Currier & Ives. You actually hear their name in alot of the holiday songs and you see some of these beautiful works of art all around you and probably do not know of their origin.

So..........who was Currier & Ives?

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 prolific firm produced prints from paintings by fine artists as black and white lithographs that were hand colored. Lithographic prints could be reproduced quickly and purchased inexpensively, and the firm called itself "the Grand Central Depot for Cheap and Popular Prints" and advertised its lithographs as "colored engravings for the people."

The name Currier & Ives first appeared in 1857, when Currier invited James Merritt Ives, the company's bookkeeper and accountant, to become his partner.


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, patriotic and historical events, including ferocious battles of the American Civil War, the building of cities and railroads, and Lincoln's assassination.


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 for American Christmas cards.