Skip to main content

Louis Prang Art

American, 1824-1909

Born on March 12, 1824, Louis Prang was a famous printer, lithographer, publisher and Georgist. His early activities in the U.S. — publishing architectural books and making leather goods — were not very successful, and he began to make wood engravings for illustrations in books. In 1851, he worked for Frank Leslie, art director for Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, and later with John Andrew. In 1851, he married Rosa Gerber, a Swiss woman he had met in Paris in 1846. In 1856, Prang and a partner created a firm, Prang and Mayer, to produce lithographs. The company specialized in prints of buildings and towns in Massachusetts. In 1860, he bought the share of his partner, creating L. Prang and Company, and began work in colored printing of advertising and other forms of business materials. The firm became quite successful and became known for war maps, printed during the American Civil War and distributed by newspapers. In 1864, Prang went to Europe to learn about cutting-edge German lithography. Returning the next year, Prang began to create high quality reproductions of major art works. Prang also began creating a series of popular album cards, advertised to be collected into scrapbooks, showing natural scenes and patriotic symbols. 

On Christmas in 1873, Prang began creating greeting cards for the popular market in England and began selling the Christmas card in America in 1874. Therefore, he is sometimes called the "father of the American Christmas card." Prang is also known for his efforts to improve art education in the U.S., publishing instructional books and creating a foundation to train art teachers. Prang was an active supporter of women artists, both commissioning and collecting artworks by women. Many of his lithographs featured works by female artists, such as the botanical illustration of Ellen Thayer Fisher. In 1881, his company employed more than 100 women. In June 1886, Prang published a series of prints under the title Prang's War Pictures: Aquarelle Facsimile Prints. These became popular and helped inspire a genre of such prints, particularly the series issued by Kurz and Allison. However, Prang aimed at a more modern and individual treatment, as opposed to the panoramic style of Kurz and Allison, and before them, Currier and Ives. In 1897, L. Prang and Company merged with another firm, creating the Taber-Prang Company and moved to Springfield, Massachusetts. Prang died in Los Angeles on vacation in 1909.

to
8
1
7
1
1
7
Overall Height
to
Overall Width
to
1
4
4
3
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
8
8
6,886
3,210
2,514
1,217
8
1
1
Artist: Louis Prang
"Under the Apple Tree", Figurative Chromolithograph after George Niles, 188/250
By Louis Prang
Located in Soquel, CA
Original chromolithograph by Louis Prang (German/American, 1823-1909) of L. Prang & Co. (American, founded 1860), after "Under the Apple Tree" by George E. Niles (American, 1837-1898). This late 19th century figurative chromolithograph depicts a small boy in a country setting and period dress under an apple tree, reaching into a barrel with a basket of apples spilling into the grass. A German style chromolithograph, this limited edition 188/250 print was created with heavy, oil-based inks which were applied in several layers to impart a texture similar to an original oil painting. Signed and dated in the plate "G.E. Niles 1867". Tag on verso with "Prang's American Chromos - Under the Apple Tree, after Niles - Chromolithographed and published by L. Prang & Co. ...Boston". Displayed in a rustic giltwood beveled frame. Image size: 9"H x 7.25"W. Louis Prang was a foremost lithographer and publisher in New York City from the mid to the end of the 19th Century. Born in Breslau, Germany to a father who was a calico printer, he was an apprentice to his father during his teen-age years and then spent five years as a journeyman, learning printing and dyeing and living in Austria, France and England. However, Prang's liberal political vliews caused him to be deported by the Prussian government during the Revolution of 1848, and fled via Bohemia and Switzerland to get to America. In 1850, Prang went to Boston, having stopped briefly in New York City, and became a publisher and taught himself wood engraving. In 1856, he turned to lithography in partnership with Julius Mayer. In 1860, he founded Louis Prang and Co., which was his own company and the first stiff competition to Currier and Ives. A primary reason for this competition was Prang's active imagination and energetic pursuit of his business. During the Civil War, he published maps and battle plans so that people at home could follow military movements. He also created printed card portraits of Union soldiers...
Category

Late 19th Century American Impressionist Louis Prang Art

Materials

Lithograph, Cardboard

"Resplendent Trogon, " Original Color Lithograph by Louis Prang
By Louis Prang
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Resplendent Trogon" is an original color lithograph by Louis Prang. It depicts two large trogon birds in a lush jungle with various flora and fauna surrounding it. 8 1/8" x 5" ima...
Category

Late 19th Century American Realist Louis Prang Art

Materials

Lithograph

"Erycinids, " an Original Color Lithograph signed by Louis Prang
By Louis Prang
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Erycinids" is an original color lithograph by Louis Prang. It depicts colorful butterflies around a variety of flowers. 5" x 8" art 16 1/2" x 19" framed Louis Prang was an American printer, lithographer, and publisher. He is sometimes known as the father of the American Christmas card. He created L. Prang and Company in 1860 and became successful and known for their Civil War maps...
Category

Late 19th Century American Realist Louis Prang Art

Materials

Lithograph

"Stag Beetle & Longicorn Beetle, " Original Color Lithograph by Louis Prang
By Louis Prang
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Stag Beetle & Longicorn Beetle" is an original color lithograph by Louis Prang. It depicts two forest-dwelling beetles. The artist signed the piece in the stone lower left. It was published by Selmar Hess in New York. 8" x 5" art 19 3/8" x 16" framed Louis Prang (March 12, 1824 – September 14, 1909) was an American printer, lithographer, publisher, and Georgist. He is sometimes known as the "father of the American Christmas card". Prang's early activities in the US publishing architectural books and making leather goods were not very successful, and he began to make wood engravings for illustrations in books. In 1851 he worked for Frank Leslie, art director for Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, and later with John Andrew. In 1851, he married Rosa Gerber, a Swiss woman he had met in Paris in 1846. In 1856, Prang and a partner created a firm, Prang and Mayer, to produce lithographs. The company specialized in prints of buildings...
Category

1880s Academic Louis Prang Art

Materials

Lithograph

"Weaver Birds, " Original Color Lithograph by Louis Prang
By Louis Prang
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Weaver Birds" is an original color lithograph by Louis Prang. It depicts multiple weaver birds with leaves surrounding them. 8 1/4" x 5" image 12 1/2" x...
Category

Late 19th Century American Realist Louis Prang Art

Materials

Lithograph

Partridge (Bird)
By Louis Prang
Located in Florham Park, NJ
ANIMATE CREATION “Our Living World” Reverend J. G. Wood Chromolithograph Louis Prang, Publisher Boston, Massachusetts 1885 9” x 12.5” An all-encompassing work, Wood’s encyclopedia illustrated birds and animals from around the world. Exotics from Africa, Asia and South America hold rank with cattle and sheep. This is one of the most complete collection of species then known to man. Each is rendered with complete scientific accuracy. Wood was in the company of the great illustrators of the nineteenth century. The natural history illustrations...
Category

1880s Naturalistic Louis Prang Art

Materials

Lithograph

Partridge (Bird)
By Louis Prang
Located in Florham Park, NJ
ANIMATE CREATION “Our Living World” Reverend J. G. Wood Chromolithograph Louis Prang, Publisher Boston, Massachusetts 1885 9” x 12.5” An all-encompassing work, Wood’s encyclopedia illustrated birds and animals from around the world. Exotics from Africa, Asia and South America hold rank with cattle and sheep. This is one of the most complete collection of species then known to man. Each is rendered with complete scientific accuracy. Wood was in the company of the great illustrators of the nineteenth century. The natural history illustrations...
Category

1880s Naturalistic Louis Prang Art

Materials

Lithograph

"Rhinoceros, " an Original Color Chromolithograph by Louis Prang
By Louis Prang
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Rhinoceros" is an original color chromolithograph by Louis Prang. It depicts two rhinos in a lush jungle forest. 7 1/2" x 5" art 12 1/2" x 9 1/4" paper 18 3/8" x 15 1/2" frame Lo...
Category

1880s Louis Prang Art

Materials

Lithograph

Related Items
Meditation and Minou
By Will Barnet
Located in Buffalo, NY
Artist: Will Barnet, American (1911 - 2012) Title: Meditation and Minou Year: 1980 Medium: Lithograph and Serigraph on BFK Rives, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 40/150
Category

1970s American Realist Louis Prang Art

Materials

Lithograph, Archival Paper

Virginian Opossum: An Original Audubon Hand-colored Lithograph
By John James Audubon
Located in Alamo, CA
This is an original John James Audubon hand-colored lithograph entitled "Virginian Opossum", No. 14, Plate LXVI, 66, from John James Audubon's Quadrupeds of North America, drawn on s...
Category

Mid-19th Century Naturalistic Louis Prang Art

Materials

Lithograph

SINGLIN' OUT Signed Lithograph, American Cowboy Roping Horses, Rocky Mountains
By Conrad Schwiering 1
Located in Union City, NJ
SINGLIN' OUT by the American Western artist Conrad Schwiering, is a hand drawn limited edition lithograph printed using hand lithography techniques o...
Category

1980s American Realist Louis Prang Art

Materials

Lithograph

Five Pigeons (Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris)
By Harold Altman
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist: Harold Altman (American, 1924-2003) Title: Five Pigeons (Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris) Year: 1981 Medium: Original color etching with aquatint Edition: Numbered 75/200 in pencil Paper: Arches Image (plate mark) size: 11.75 x 8.25 inches Framed size: 24.5 x 17.65 inches Signature: Hand signed and titled in pencil by the artist Condition: It is in very good condition, the matting have some marks, see picture #1 Frame: Custom framed in a wooden silver frame frame, with fabric matting and brownish green fillet. About the artist. Printmaker Harold Altman was an etcher, painter, and teacher, who was born in New York City in 1924. He attended the Art Students League, 1941-42 and Cooper Union, (Graduate in Fine Arts), 1941-47, both in New York City. In 1946, he attended Black Mountain College, North Carolina and then went on to The New School, New York City 1947-49. Finishing his extensive art education at the L'Academie de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris 1949-52. Altman settled in the central Pennsylvanian village of Lemont in 1962, where a nineteenth-century frame church serves as his studio. Approximately four months out of the year are spent working in Paris where his lithographs are printed at Atelier DesJobert. In previous years, his etchings were printed at Atelier George LeBlanc. Altman's landscapes and figurative works have been exhibited at numerous galleries and museums, both in the United States and abroad. He is represented in nearly every significant collection in the world. New York's Museum of Modern Art owns over forty Altmans while the Whitney Museum of American Art and Brooklyn Museums each have over fifty of his works in their permanent collections. His work is to be found in many significant museum collections outside of the United States, several of which are the Victoria and Albert Museum of London, the Stedelijk Museum of Amsterdam, the Kunst Museum of Basel, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Copenhagen and the Bibliotheque Nationale of Paris. OVER 300 ONE-MAN EXHIBITIONS (PARTIAL LISTING) Galerie Huit - Paris (1951) The Art Institute of Chicago - (1960) The Escuela Nacional de Artes Plasticas - Mexico City (1961) The San Francisco Museum of Art - (1961) The Santa Barbara Museum of Art - (1961) Oklahoma Art Center - (1966, 1976) The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art - Winston-Salem, NC (1976) Milwaukee Art Center - (1969) The Print Cabinet...
Category

Late 20th Century American Impressionist Louis Prang Art

Materials

Etching, Aquatint

The Five Greatest J Ever Rode
By Richard Stone Reeves
Located in New York, NY
This colorful lithograph By Reeves is in perfect condition and never was framed or hung before. It is hand signed and numbered 17/750. Richard Stone Reeves (November 6, 1919 – Octobe...
Category

1970s American Realist Louis Prang Art

Materials

Lithograph

Four Walking Figures
By Harold Altman
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist: Harold Altman (American, 1924-2003) Title: Four Walking Figures Year: c.1980 Medium: Original color lithograph Edition: Inscribed "Artist Proof" in pencil Paper: Arches ...
Category

Late 20th Century American Impressionist Louis Prang Art

Materials

Lithograph

Four Walking Figures
Four Walking Figures
H 20.15 in W 25 in D 1.25 in
Panda
Located in San Francisco, CA
This artwork "Panda" c.1990 is an offset lithograph by noted animals wildlife artist Jacquie Marie Vaux. It is hand signed and numbered 37/750 in pe...
Category

Late 20th Century American Realist Louis Prang Art

Materials

Lithograph

Panda
Panda
H 33.5 in W 25.75 in D 0.01 in
Santa Fe The Chief Way original American railroad poster
Located in Spokane, WA
Original Santa Fe The Chief Way vintage railroad travel poster. Archival linen backed in very fine condition, ready to frame. Most of the Santa Fe Railway posters feature American Indians, but this poster features the big boss, The Chief! The poster has about a 1" white border around the entire image, the linen backing is not counted in the poster's measurement. Several of the trains were named "Chief" which includes the San Francisco Chief, Texan Chief, Kansas City Chief...
Category

1940s American Impressionist Louis Prang Art

Materials

Offset

November 1981 III (Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris)
By Harold Altman
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist: Harold Altman (American, 1924-2003) Title: November 1981 III (Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris) Year: 1981 Medium: Original color lithograph Edition: Inscribed "Artist Proof" in pencil Paper: Arches Image size: 7.75 x 11.70 inches Framed size: 18.65 x 22.5 inches Signature: Hand signed and titled in pencil by the artist Condition: Excellent Frame: Custom framed in a wooden silver frame frame, with light light grey matting and brownish green fillet. About the artist. Print...
Category

Late 20th Century American Impressionist Louis Prang Art

Materials

Lithograph

Pintail
Located in San Francisco, CA
This artwork titled "Pintail" c.1990 is a color lithograph by noted Wild life American artist Christopher Forrest, b.1946. It is hand signed, titled and numbered 86/300 in pencil by the artist. The image size is 17.5 x 22.85 inches, framed size is 27.35 x 32.5 inches. Custom framed in a oak frame, with light brown matting. It is in excellent condition About the artist: Born in Trenton, New Jersey, 1946 Interested in art from the age of 7, Christopher Forrest still speaks fondly of a set of colored pencils presented to him then by his parents; At 11, he won his first award for painting and started exhibiting in galleries. Along with his interest in art grew a keen attraction for the outdoors and the wildlife which thrived there. After considering schooling in art, Chris chose to study civil engineering. Upon graduation from Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Chris began a career as a commissioned officer in the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The Army provided Chris the opportunity to observe wildlife from the swamps of Florida to the lakes of Quebec, in addition to Europe and Viet Nam. In 1973, the Army sent Chris to graduate school at North Carolina State University, at this time Chris started to paint wildlife. Chris resigned from the Army in 1978 and took a position as an artist with Evergreen Publishing Co. He has produced more than thirty original graphic editions for Evergreen. His original graphics are handled by some 350 galleries in North America. He is currently General Manager at Evergreen. His work and articles about his work have appeared in numerous wildlife and art publications. Chris strongly believes in wildlife conservation and is a member of many conservationist organizations. His donated prints have raised a great deal of money for Ducks Unlimited, Newjersey, Audubon and Ward Foundations. In 1980 he realized one of his major professional goals. He was elected to membership in the Society of Animal Artists. "Creating a painting or graphic is an exciting adventure and challenge for me. Starting with the observation of the animal in the wilderness, I then approach the painting with the attitude that it will be my finest work." COLLECTIONS National Academy of Science, Washington, D.C. New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, N.J. Ferrum College, Ferrum, Va. Franklin Mint, Franklin Center, Pa. Parsons, Brinkerhoff, Quade & Douglas, consulting Engineers, N.Y.C. Fine Art Corporation of America, N.Y.C. Central Carolina Bank, Raleigh, N.C. Ward Foundation Museum, Salisbury, Md. New Jersey Audubon Society, Rancocas, N.J. I.B.M., Louisville, Ky. American World Airways (Pan Am), Miami, Fla. Baush & Lomb, Rochester, N.Y. Thermos, Norwich, Conn. Metro-Goldwyn Mayer, Ca. Ford Motor Co., Atlanta, Ga. Chemical Bank, N.Y.C. City Bank, N.Y.C. ONE-MAN SHOWS N.J. State Museum, Trenton, N.J. 1979 Palette Gallery, Cary, N.C., 1973,-74,-77,-78,-79 Lambertville House, Lambertvi lie, N.J., 1975-76 Triangle Art, Trenton, N.J., 1975 INVITATIONAL SHOWS Triangle Art Christmas Show, 1975 Golden Door Gallery Wildlife Show, New Hope, Pa., 1976 Ward Foundation Wildlife Art & Carving Exhibition, Salisbury and Ocean City, Md., 1976,-78,-79 Easton Waterfowl Art...
Category

Late 20th Century American Realist Louis Prang Art

Materials

Lithograph

Pintail
Pintail
H 27.35 in W 32.5 in D 1 in
Afternoon
By Harold Altman
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist: Harold Altman (American, 1924-2003) Title: Afternoon Year: c.1980 Medium: Original color lithograph Edition: Numbered 62/225 in pencil Paper: Arches Image size: 10.75 x...
Category

Late 20th Century American Impressionist Louis Prang Art

Materials

Lithograph

Afternoon
Afternoon
H 18.25 in W 14.85 in D 1.25 in
Trumpeter Swan, Adult: An Original Audubon Hand-colored Bird Lithograph
By John James Audubon
Located in Alamo, CA
This is an original John James Audubon hand-colored lithograph entitled "Trumpeter Swan, Adult", No. 77, Plate 382 from Audubon's "Birds of America, lit...
Category

Mid-19th Century Naturalistic Louis Prang Art

Materials

Lithograph

Louis Prang art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Louis Prang art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Louis Prang in lithograph, board, cardboard and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 19th century and is mostly associated with the Impressionist style. Not every interior allows for large Louis Prang art, so small editions measuring 11 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Peter Moran, Stephen Parrish, and Neil Welliver. Louis Prang art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $250 and tops out at $1,300, while the average work can sell for $1,300.

Artists Similar to Louis Prang

Recently Viewed

View All