When we think of American political prints, many of us immediately visualize Thomas Nast’s savage cartoons in Harper’s Weekly as he famously went after the corruption of Tammany Hall and Boss Tweed in the early 1870s. But the tradition of using illustration to convey political messages stretches back to America’s origins. Political art can communicate Read More
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Capturing the “Swedish Nightingale”
October 6, 2020, was the bicentennial of the birthday of Jenny Lind—one of the most famous women of the 19th century. Born in Stockholm in 1820, Lind entered the Swedish Royal Theater School in 1830—the youngest student ever accepted. By 18, her voice had made her famous in Sweden, and during the 1840s she created Read More
The Business of Mourning: Currier & Ives and the Death of President Garfield
September 19th marks the 139th anniversary of the death of James A. Garfield, the 20th President of the United States. Garfield died from infection a little more than two months after he was shot by an assassin on July 2, 1881, in Washington, D.C. The Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art hold an interesting letter from Read More
Who was Little Fannie?
A collector recently queried us about a print she had of “Little Fannie” published by Currier & Ives. The collector wanted to know: Was this a famous child? How had Fannie ended up immortalized in a print? Who was Fannie? The truth is that Little Fannie could have easily have been Little Mary or Little Read More
An Early Etching by Henry Farrer
Henry Farrer (1844-1903) was one of the most celebrated of the American painter-etchers during the late 19th century, and someone who today is far too underappreciated. He held leadership positions in the New York Etching Club, which became one of the prime movers in generating interest in etching within the American public for the Read More