Nathaniel Currier

Nathaniel Currier(March 27, 1813 – November 20, 1888) was an Americanlithographer.He headed the companyCurrier & IveswithJames Ives.

Nathaniel Currier
Born	(1813-03-27)March 27, 1813 Roxbury, Massachusetts,U.S.
Died	November 20, 1888(1888-11-20)(aged 75) Amesbury, Massachusetts,U.S.
Resting place	Green-Wood Cemeteryin Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Known for	Lithography
Relatives	Edward Wilson Currier(nephew) Jon Gould(great-great nephew)

Early life and education

Currier was born inRoxbury, Massachusetts,to Nathaniel and Hannah Currier. He attended public school until age fifteen, when he was apprenticed to theBostonprinting firm ofWilliam and John Pendleton.

Career

The Pendletons were the first successful lithographers in the United States, lithography having only recently been invented in Europe.Currier learned the process in their shop. In 1833, he subsequently went to work for M. E. D. Brown inPhiladelphia,in 1833. The following year, in 1834, Currier moved toNew York City,where he intended to start a new business with John Pendleton but Pendleton backed out, and the new firm became Currier & Stodart and lasted only one year.

Currier & Ives

In 1835, Currier started his own lithographic business as an eponymous sole proprietorship, initially engaged in standard lithographic business of printing sheet music, letterheads, handbills, and other publishing-related products.

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 City,Ruins of the Merchant's Exchange N.Y. after the Destructive Conflagration of Decbr 16 & 17, 1835was published by theNew 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 Sunpublished his printAwful Conflagration of the Steam Boat 'Le xing ton' 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 went to work for Currier's firm asbookkeeper.Ives' skills as a businessman andmarketercontributed significantly to the growth of the company; in 1857 he was made a full partner, and the company became known asCurrier & Ives.

Currier & Ives are best known as creators of popular art prints, such as Christmas scenes, landscapes, or depictions ofVictorianurban sophistication; however, the firm also producedpolitical cartoonsandbanners,significant historical scenes, and further illustrations of current events. Over the decades, the firm created roughly 7,500 images.

Currier retired from his firm in 1880, and turned the business over to his son Edward.

Personal life and death

Currier married Eliza West Farnsworth in 1840.The couple had one child, Edward West Currier, the next year.Eliza died in 1843.In 1847, Currier married Lura Ormsbee.

In addition to being a lithographer, he was also a New York City volunteer fireman in the 1850s.

He was aUnitarian.

Currier was a friend ofP.T. BarnumofBarnum and Baileyfame.

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

Currier died eight years after retiring, on November 20, 1888, at his home on Lion's Mouth Road inAmesbury, Massachusettsand is interred atGreen-Wood CemeteryinBrooklyn.

Gallery

• 
  Ruins of the Merchant's Exchange N.Y. after the Destructive Conflagration of Decbr 16 & 17, 1835
• 
  Awful Conflagration of the Steam Boat 'Le xing ton' in Long Island Sound on Monday Eveg Jany 13th 1840, by Which Melancholy Occurrence Over 100 Persons Perished
• 
  The Drunkard's Progress.Lithograph. Version of theLebenstreppethat supports thetemperance movement,1846
• 
  "Military College atChapultepec",hand tinted lithograph published by Nathaniel Currier as a sole proprietor, c. 1847
• 
  "An Available Candidate: The One Qualification for a Whig President". Political cartoon about the 1848 presidential election which refers toZachary TaylororWinfield Scott,the two leading contenders for theWhig Partynomination in the aftermath of theMexican–American War.Published 1848, digitally restored.
• 
  Currier & Ives'Central-Park, Winter: The Skating Pond,1862
• 
  Civil WarBattle of Williamsburg,1862
• 
  TheStatue of Liberty:The Great Bartholdi Statue, Liberty Enlightening the World: The Gift of France to the American People,1885

References

• Chase, Linda S. (2000)."Currier, Nathaniel".American National Biography Online.

External links

• The Currier & Ives Foundation
• Green-Wood Cemetery Burial Search