Watercolor Prints and Multiples

Figurative surreal etching print with watercolor by Polish artist Leszek Rozga. Artwork depicts several portraits in different styles. Artwork is signed by the artist, it comes from ...

Étienne DENISSE (1785-1861) Gombeau Edible and Trompette. Collection of the most remarkable Flowers and Fruits, natural size. Two lithographs enhanced with watercolor. Around 1830. F...

This is an exclusive handprinted limited edition cyanotype. This cyanotype shows a desert palm tree located in the majestic mediterranean city of Cairo, Egypt. Details: + Title: C...

Patty deGrandpre’s “Landlocked (Welcome to Utah)” is an 14 x 11 inch unique abstract mixed media print represented on Awagami Bamboo Japanese paper utilizing both printmaking and cre...

This portrait of King George the III's son was published in the same year that Beethoven's Ninth Symphony premiered in London. 'The Protestants Champion!!' (Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex...

London: Thomas McLean, 1835. Etching with hand coloring in watercolor on cream wove paper. 6 1/4 x 8 3/8 inches (157 x 210 mm), full margins. Initialed in the plate by Cruikshank, a...

This is an exclusive handprinted unique cyanotype that takes its inspiration from the mid-century modern shapes. It's made by layering paper cutouts and different exposures using uv-...

Subject for this artwork comes from Miguel de Cervantes' book. The print comes from edition limited to 5. CZESLAW TUMIELEWICZ (b. 1942) In 1968, he studied at the Architecture facul...

Artist: John James Audubon (American, 1785-1851) Title: "Snowy Heron" (Plate 374, No. 75) Portfolio: The Birds of America, First Royal Octavo Edition Year: 1840-1844 Medium: Original...

"Three Ribbon Heads", Art Deco Female Figurative by John Luke Eastman. 1984 Beautiful mid-1980's hand colored Art Deco style lithograph by Southern California artist John Luke Eastman (American, b.1929). In this 1984 version of Eastman's "Three Ribbon Heads", a delicate flowing line drawing of three consecutive women's faces in profile are framed by ribbons in a circular composition. As in many of the artist's works, Eastman captions the piece with the following phrase: " In this life we have three lasting qualities...faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of them is love." Hand signed and dated in pencil lower right, "John L. Eastman 84" artists proof. Displayed in a light grey mat and new art deco-style giltwood frame. Paper size: 20"H x 16"W. Framed size: 19.5"H x 23.25"W x 1"D. John Luke Eastman is a Southern California artist with a unique style. A graduate of UCLA with a degree in graphic arts, he was successful fashion illustrator and art director for prestigious department store in L. A. before turning his full attention to fine art. Over the part decade he has created and mastered the unique style that is currently found in his limited edition silk-screen graphics. A versatile artist, who has illustrated many record and book covers he refers to his style as "the 5th dimension" or "beautiful distortion". The qualities he seeks to impart through his works are fluidity of movement, a feeling of spatiality, weightlessness and beautiful color. His artworks have been in a lot of shows across the country. He recently had show at Celux (Louis Vuitton membership...

"Coffee" the Perfect Meal - Menu - Beverages - Intaglio by Raymond Perez The artwork "Second Course Fish" by Raymond Perez, created one of a group show at San Francisco State Univer...

This is an exclusive handprinted limited edition cyanotype. Details: + Title: Vintage Pressed Flowers Nº1 + Year: 2021 + Edition Size: 20 + St...

Artist: William Curtis (English, 1746-1799) Title: "Soldanella Alpina Alpine Soldanella" (Vol. 2, Plate 49) Portfolio: The Botanical Magazine; or, Flower-Garden Displayed Year: 1788 ...

A Sandstorm on the Little Colorado River, Arizona. 1920. Soft-ground etching. Seeber 189. 6 7/8 x 9 3/4 (sheet 9 5/8 x 13). Edition 40, #6. Series: Desert Set. Illustrated: American ...

Pugin, Augustus Charles & Rowlandson, Thomas (after). College of Physicians, from Ackermann's "Microcosm of London." London: Rudolph Ackermann, 1808. Hand-colored lithograph, 9 1/4 ...

This artwork titled "Interior" is an original watercolor on paper by Israeli artist Itzchac Tarkay 1935-2012. It is signed at the lower right corner. The image size is 11.5 x 9 inc...

LESZEK RÓZGA (1924-2015) He studied painting at Maria Skarbek-Kruszewska private atelier in 1945-46. In 1948, he began studies at the art school in Łódź (later: Academy of Fine Arts) in the studios of professors Władysław Strzemiński, Adam Rychtarski, Stefan Wegner and Ludwik Tyrowicz. He graduated with special award from the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow in 1954. In 1958 he became a member of the Piąte Koło association ("Fifth Wheel...

Rare Engraving "Cabane Des Hold, Terres Artiques, Fig CII," 1st edition "Description de l’Univers, page 281 This rare image depicts the Willem Barentsz expedition of 1597 to Novaya Zemlya, Russia. The engraving, with later hand-coloring, shows the cabin and ship of the Dutch arctic expedition of Barentsz on Novaya Zemlya (Nova Zembla), with the party being attacked (and in some cases apparently eaten) by bears and wolves. Dutch explorer, Willem Barentsz, reached the west coast of Novaya Zemlya in 1594, and in a subsequent expedition of 1596 rounded the northern point and wintered on the northeast coast. Barentsz died during the expedition, and may have been buried on the northern island. This artwork is a page from a book by 17th century cartographer and engineer, Allain Manesson Mallet (French, 1630-1706), "Description de L'Univers, contenant les differents systêmes du monde, les cartes générals et particulières de la géographie ancienne et modern." Paris: Denys Thierry, 1683. Presented in an cream colored mat. Text on verso shown in images. Mat Size: 11.5"H x 9.07"W Paper Size: 8.25"H x 5.44"W Image Size: 5.63"H x 3.75"W Alain Manesson Mallet (French, 1630-1706) was a 17th century cartographer and military engineer. He started his career as a musketeer in the army of Louis XIV, became a Sergeant-Major in the artillery and an Inspector of Fortifications. He later served under Alfonso VI, King of Portugal...

London: Thomas Mclean, 1835. Etching with hand coloring in watercolor on cream wove paper. 5 3/8 x 7 3/4 inches (135 x 195 mm), full margins. A lovely well inked impression with fres...

Salvador Dali (1904-1989) - Sainte Lucie Etching and watercolour from 1974. The edition 219/450. Dimensions of work: 90 x 63.5 cm. Hand signed. Reference: Field, 73-3; Michler, ...

Artist: John James Audubon (American, 1785-1851) Title: "Florida Cormorant" (Plate 417, No. 84) Portfolio: The Birds of America, First Royal Octavo Edition Year: 1840-1844 Medium: Original Hand-Colored Lithograph on wove paper Limited edition: approx. 1,200 Printer: John T. Bowen, Philadelphia, PA Publisher: John James Audubon and J.B. Chevalier, New York, NY and Philadelphia, PA Sheet size: 6.5" x 10.44" Image size: 3.75" x 6.25" Condition: Some minor discoloration upper center in margin. In excellent condition with strong colors Notes: Provenance: private collection - Cleveland, OH. Lithography and hand-coloring by American artist John T. Bowen (1801-c.1856). Comes from Audubon's famous seven volume portfolio "The Birds of America", First Royal Octavo Edition (1840-1844), which consists of 500 hand-colored lithographs. Based on a composition painted in the Florida Keys on April 26, 1832, Audubon's forty-seventh birthday. The double-crested cormorant (Nannopterum auritum) is a member of the cormorant family of water birds. It is found near rivers and lakes and in coastal areas and is widely distributed across North America, from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska down to Florida and Mexico. Measuring 70–90 cm (28–35 in) in length, it is entirely black except for a bare patch of orange-yellow facial skin and some extra plumage that it exhibits in the breeding season when it grows a double crest in which black feathers are mingled with white. Five subspecies are recognized. It mainly eats fish and hunts by swimming and diving. Its feathers, like all cormorants, are not waterproof, and it must dry them out after spending time in the water. Once threatened by the use of DDT, the numbers of this bird have increased markedly in recent years. To make 'The Birds of America' more affordable and widely available, in 1839 John James Audubon began the first octavo edition, a smaller version of the folio which was printed and hand-colored by J. T. Bowen in Philadelphia. Employing a new invention, the camera lucida, the images were reduced in size, rendered in intermediate drawings by John James Audubon and his son John Woodhouse, and then drawn onto lithographic stones. These miniatures exhibit a remarkable amount of attention to quality and detail, as well as a meticulous fidelity to the larger works. Some compositional changes were made in order to accommodate the smaller format. Like the Havell edition, John James Audubon’s first...

Artist: William Curtis (English, 1746-1799) Title: Set of Six Hand-Colored Engravings Portfolio: The Botanical Magazine; or, Flower-Garden Displayed Year: 1794-1812 (First-second ser...

This is an exclusive handprinted limited edition cyanotype. Details: + Title: Vintage Pressed Flowers Nº3 + Year: 2023 + Edition Size: 20 + Stamped and Certificate of Authenticity provided + Measurements : 70x100 cm (28x 40 in.), a standard frame size + All cyanotype prints are made on high-quality Italian watercolor paper WHAT IS A CYANOTYPE? The cyanotype (a.k.a. sun-print) process is one of the oldest in the history of photography, dating back to the 1840's. Cyanotypes were then made famous by Anna Atkins, considered the first female photographer. Inspired by nature, we feel the need to look back at a craft that is handmade, analogue, and using an all-natural light source: the sun. Our cyanotypes are made by coating high-quality Italian watercolor paper with a light-sensitive emulsion. We then expose it in direct sunlight for several minutes using a photo negative...

Coleth The Lovers of Venice Carnival Original gouache and ink drawing (c. 1925) Signed bottom right On drawing paper 23 x 20 cm (c. 9 x 8 in) at view...

This lithograph is in excellent condition and and has only been shown in a gallery setting. Limited edition printed on Arches paper. The photos are of one of the pieces from the edi...

Les Tuileries, Paris - Hand Colored Lithograph Delicate hand-colored lithograph of Tuileries Palace in Paris, France printed by Rose-Joseph Lemercier (French, 1803 - 1887). Published, Paris 1843 to 1867 by Hautecoeur Freres (Eugène and Alfred Hautecoeur (French). After Charles Riviere...

This is an exclusive handprinted limited edition cyanotype. "Greek Beach Bliss" is a cyanotype of a woman's feet in the fresh water of a sandy beach shore...

Marc Chagall "Samuel Called by God" from the series The Bible, which consists of 105 original etchings. Original hand colored etching 1958 Hand initialed "M.Ch" in pencil Numbered ...

Over 200 year old engraved map of Americas by Robert de Vaugondy from 1783. Original hand color. Shows North, Central and South Americas. Note the po...

Artist: Dali, Salvador Title: Transfiguration Date: 1973 Medium: Drypoint with Added Watercolor Unframed Dimensions: 30" x 22" Signature: Pencil signed Edition: 100/100 Litera...

Platform Nine and Three Quarters and Current Affairs Diptych by Laura Jordan [2016] Please note that insitu images are purely an indication of how a piece may look Platform Nine and Three Quarters and Current Affairs Diptych are limited edition prints of London and Paris by Laura Jordan. This artwork is printed on archival paper with a hand finished overlay of pencil watercolour and collage. The process in which Laura Jordan creates her work is that she produces lots of small illustrations which are then layered on top of each other to create a larger cityscape. The drawings are scanned and rescaled to create the print. Laura Jordan art...

Red Breast 2021 Signed, dated, and numbered, recto Watercolor using rubber stamps on handmade Twinrocker paper (Edition of 200) 5.75 x 8.5 inches (14.6 x 21.6 cm) This work is off...

Delicate and detailed etching by Orpha Klinker (American, 1891-1964). At the edge of an old Adobe building, a staircase leads to the second floor. The stucco on the walls of the building is cracked, revealing the stonework below. Next to the building is a garden with Corkscrew Willow trees. One of her first projects with which Orpha impressed the public was a notable series of her large color portraits of California pioneers in the L.A.TIMES under the heading of "Speaking Of Pioneers." This led to another series on landmarks and famous tales of early California including oil paintings of historic adobes, buildings, and trees of California. Signed in plate, lower left. Paper size: 8.5"H x 10.5"W Mat size: 10"H x 12"W Orpha Klinker (American, 1891-1964) graduated from Polytechnic High School, L.A. and later studied at U.C.L.A. Art School and at the Cannon Art School. Artists Paul Lauritz and Anna A. Hills of Laguna Beach were her first art teachers. She continued her study of art at the Julian and Colarossi Academies in Europe. Some of her earliest work was in designing. Many pages of her fine pen work drawings appeared in Los Angeles newspapers, illustrating the fashions of the day, not only in clothes but in furniture and other things. Then for a time she did her work in New York City and later with the Ladies Home Journal in Philadelphia. One of her first projects with which Orpha impressed the public was a notable series of her large color portraits of California pioneers in the L.A.TIMES under the heading of "Speaking Of Pioneers." This led to another series on landmarks and famous tales of early California including oil paintings of historic adobes, buildings, and trees of California. From the Mexican border to Death Valley she roamed, meeting and painting portraits of such characters as Death Valley Scotty, Shoshone Johnny, the ancient Indian who supposedly saw the first white man come to Death Valley, Emanuel A. Speegle, "The Last of the 49'ers" (over 90 years of age) and others. Orpha was active in keeping alive the memory of one historical event in particular, the signing of the Treaty of Cahuenga ending the Mexican War...

Beautifully executed original hand colored lithograph using gouache and watercolor. Scene in Surrey, England. Signedxwith monogram in plate lower left, Myles Birket Foster. Published by M. H. Long. Condition is very good. In original 2 inch wide birdseye maple antique frame with thick museum mat with gold innner edge. Overall 22 by 26 inches. Biography Myles Birket Foster (4 February 1825 – 27 March 1899) was a popular English illustrator, watercolour artist and engraver in the Victorian period. His name is also to be found as Myles Birkett Foster. Life and work Foster was born in North Shields, England of a primarily Quaker family, but his family moved south to London in 1830, where his father founded M. B. Foster & sons — a successful beer-bottling company. He was schooled at Hitchin, Hertfordshire and on leaving initially went into his father's business. However, noticing his talent for art, his father secured an apprenticeship with the notable wood engraver, Ebenezer Landells, where he worked on illustrations for Punch magazine and the Illustrated London News. On leaving Landells' employ, he continued to produce work for the Illustrated London News and the Illustrated London Almanack. He also found work as a book illustrator and, during the 1850s, trained himself to paint in watercolours. His illustrations of Longfellow’s Evangeline and books of poetry by other contemporaries were a great success, and he quickly became a successful artist in watercolours. Birket Foster became an Associate of the "Old" Watercolour Society (Later the Royal Watercolour Society) in 1860 and exhibited some 400 of his paintings at the Royal Academy over more than 2 decades. Birket Foster travelled widely, painting the countryside around Scotland, the Rhine Valley, the Swiss lakes and in Italy, especially Venice. In 1863 he moved to Witley, near Godalming in Surrey where he had a house ("The Hill") built. Being friendly with Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris, he had the house decorated and furnished in contemporary style, with tiles and paintings by Burne-Jones and Morris' firm, Morris and Company. The same year he published a volume of "English Landscapes," with text by Tom Taylor...

Complete book comprising of 20 offset lithographs and cardboard cover, all hand-colored with watercolor. From the edition of unknown size. All 20 sheets bound (as issued). Minor ti...

Abstract black and white hand painted print of interior scene with dots, lines, shadow and painted brushstroke texture. Ideal for display in minimalist, modern and contemporary space...

Abstract red, green and grey interior scene with lines, shapes and hand painted brushstroke texture. Colorful large scale work ideal for display in minimalist, modern and contemporar...

Beautiful figurative giclée and watercolor limited edition print titled "The Aunties", a homage to the classical figurative sculpture The Three Graces, by Anne Ormsby, a Aptos, Calif...

The Christ was a recurring image in Salvador Aulestia's artistic path. This is a particular two color litograph in a vertical format that was attached to a bigger red cardboard to fi...

Enrico Baj (1924-2003) Italian, limited edition print. Hand signed and numbered in pencil from limited edition of 100 Aquatint etching with the addition of hand watercolor painting ...

Patty deGrandpre’s “Landlocked (Palm Trees)” is an 11 x 16.5 inch unique abstract mixed media print represented on Awagami Bamboo Japanese paper utilizing both printmaking and creati...

Burr, George Elbert. OASIS OF SEVEN PALMS CALIFORNIA. Gouache on paper, not dated, but before 1921. Titled in pencil, lower left, and signed in pencil, lower right, and with the numb...

'Jane' in pink and dark blue. Monotype EV with mixed media hand coloring including ink, gouache, pencils. Ed 1/4. Kim Frohsin, who is often associated with the Bay Area Figurative m...

Colorful figurative drypoint print by Polish artist Czeslaw Tumielewicz. Subject for this artwork comes from Miguel de Cervantes' book. The print is signed, it comes from edition lim...

"Femme Des Aït MGuild" translated to "Woman of the Aït MGuild" is plate number 19 in Jean Besancenot's stunning portraits and depictions of the people ...

Boulevard du Temple, Paris, France - Hand Colored Lithograph Detailed lithograph of a Paris street scene by Louis Valentin Emile de La Tramblais (French, 1821-1892). This piece is f...

"Hyde Park on Sunday" - Hand Colored Etching from "Old and New London" Detailed etching of a typical Sunday in Hyde Park around 1800 after an etching by Ed...

Plants are things of beauty, but they have a purpose beyond decoration. This piece invites quiet reflection on human’s relationship with plants. I love history and stories and was in...

"Femme de Tiznit Portant L'Amendil" translated to "Woman of Tiznit Wearing the Amendil" is plate number 47 in Jean Besancenot's stunning portraits and ...

Artist: William Curtis (English, 1746-1799) Title: "Chironia Baccifera Berry-Bearing Chironia" (Vol. 7, Plate 233) Portfolio: The Botanical Magazine; or, Flower-Garden Displayed Year...

Abstract composition is an original modern artwork realized by Artist of the mid-20th century. Mixed colored drawing on paper. Hand signed on the lower margin. Includes frame.

Watercolor on paper 32 x 25 inches framed

Artist: John James Audubon (American, 1785-1851) Title: "Great White Heron" (Plate 368, No. 74) Portfolio: The Birds of America, First Royal Octavo Edition Year: 1840-1844 Medium: Or...

Artist: William Curtis (English, 1746-1799) Title: Set of Six Hand-Colored Engravings Portfolio: The Botanical Magazine; or, Flower-Garden Displayed Year: 1796-1829 (First-third seri...

EUGENE ABESHAUS Leningrad, Russia, (1939-2008) Hand-Colored, with watercolor painting, Etching hand signed in pencil in English and Hebrew Numbered 47/110 Framed 21.5 x 16. image 13.5 x 9 Eugene Abeshaus (also spelled Evgeny Abezgauz, Евгений Абезгауз in Russian; 1939–2008) was a Jewish artist who worked in Russia (then USSR) and Israel. Born in Leningrad to a typical intelligentsia family, Abeshaus was educated as an electrical engineer but soon abandoned this career and enrolled in the Mukhina School for Applied Art. By the time of his graduation from the famous “Mukha” (Fly in Russian), he had already developed a critical stance towards the official Soviet art dominated by the Communist ideology and began exhibiting at semi-underground exhibitions. This was culminated by his taking part in a famous 1975 exhibition at the Nevsky Palace of Culture. Abeshaus was fired from his job and censured by the official press – which however admitted his "artistic taste, a good sense of color and form". Soon afterwards, Abeshaus set up, together with several Jewish artists, the Alef Group and became its leader. The group’s first exhibition in November 1975 was held at Abeshauses’ small apartment. According to the Alef Manifesto written by Alek Rapoport, “We are trying to conquer the influence of small-town Jewish art and find sources for our work in deeper, wiser, and more spiritual European culture, and from it build a bridge to today and tomorrow". He was part of a generation of Russian, mostly Jewish artist's that included Oskar Rabin, Evgeny Rukhin...

18th-century celestial FLAMSTEED, John. Aquila Sagitta.Vulpecula & Anser Delphinus London, C. Nourse, 1753. Hand coloured star chart heightened with gold and silver, engraved by ...

This is an exclusive handprinted limited edition cyanotype. Details: + Title: Gingko Leaf Explosion + Year: 2024 + Edition Size: 100 + Stamped and Certificate of Authenticity provid...

The present print is one of several examples produced for Nathaniel Currier by his longtime collaborator Frances F. "Fanny" Palmer. Harry T. Peters wrote of her: "There is no more interesting and appealing character among the group of artists who worked for Currier & Ives than Fanny Palmer. In an age when women, well-bred women in particular, did not generally work for a living Fanny Palmer for years did exacting, full-time work in order to support a large and dependent family ... Her work ... had great charm, homeliness, and a conscientious attention to detail." One of a series of four prints showing American country life in different seasons, the image presents the viewer with a picturesque view of a successful American farm. In the foreground, a gentleman rides a horse with a young boy before a respectable Italianate country house. Two women and a young girl pick flowers in the garden and several farm workers attend to their duties. Beyond are other homes and a city on the coast. 16.63 x 23.75 inches, artwork 28.13 x 33.38 inches, frame Entitled bottom center "American Country Life - May Morning" Signed in the stone, lower left "F.F. Palmer, Del." Signed in the stone, lower right "Lith. by N. Currier" Copyrighted lower center "Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1855 by N. Currier in the Clerk's office of the Southern District of N.Y." Inscribed bottom center "New York, Published by N. Currier 152 Nassau Street" Framed to conservation standards using silk-lined 100 percent rag matting and Museum Glass with a gold gilded liner, all housed in a stained wood moulding. Nathaniel Currier was a tall introspective man with a melancholy nature. He could captivate people with his piercing stare or charm them with his sparkling blue eyes. Nathaniel was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts on March 27th, 1813, the second of four children. His parents, Nathaniel and Hannah Currier, were distant cousins who lived a humble yet spartan life. When Nathaniel was eight years old, tragedy struck. Nathaniel’s father unexpectedly passed away leaving Nathaniel and his eleven-year-old brother Lorenzo to provide for the family. In addition to their mother, Nathaniel and Lorenzo had to care for six-year-old sister Elizabeth and two-year-old brother Charles. Nathaniel worked a series of odd jobs to support the family, and at fifteen, he started what would become a life-long career when he apprenticed in the Boston lithography shop of William and John Pendleton. A Bavarian gentleman named Alois Senefelder invented lithography just 30 years prior to young Nat Currier’s apprenticeship. While under the employ of the brothers Pendleton, Nat was taught the art of lithography by the firm’s chief printer, a French national named Dubois, who brought the lithography trade to America. Lithography involves grinding a piece of limestone flat and smooth then drawing in mirror image on the stone with a special grease pencil. After the image is completed, the stone is etched with a solution of aqua fortis leaving the greased areas in slight relief. Water is then used to wet the stone and greased-ink is rolled onto the raised areas. Since grease and water do not mix, the greased-ink is repelled by the moisture on the stone and clings to the original grease pencil lines. The stone is then placed in a press and used as a printing block to impart black on white images to paper. In 1833, now twenty-years old and an accomplished lithographer, Nat Currier left Boston and moved to Philadelphia to do contract work for M.E.D. Brown, a noted engraver and printer. With the promise of good money, Currier hired on to help Brown prepare lithographic stones of scientific images for the American Journal of Sciences and Arts. When Nat completed the contract work in 1834, he traveled to New York City to work once again for his mentor John Pendleton, who was now operating his own shop located at 137 Broadway. Soon after the reunion, Pendleton expressed an interest in returning to Boston and offered to sell his print shop to Currier. Young Nat did not have the financial resources to buy the shop, but being the resourceful type he found another local printer by the name of Stodart. Together they bought Pendleton’s business. The firm ‘Currier & Stodart’ specialized in "job" printing. They produced many different types of printed items, most notably music manuscripts for local publishers. By 1835, Stodart was frustrated that the business was not making enough money and he ended the partnership, taking his investment with him. With little more than some lithographic stones, and a talent for his trade, twenty-two year old Nat Currier set up shop in a temporary office at 1 Wall Street in New York City. He named his new enterprise ‘N. Currier, Lithographer’ Nathaniel continued as a job printer and duplicated everything from music sheets to architectural plans. He experimented with portraits, disaster scenes and memorial prints, and any thing that he could sell to the public from tables in front of his shop. During 1835 he produced a disaster print Ruins of the Planter's Hotel, New Orleans, which fell at two O’clock on the Morning of the 15th of May 1835, burying 50 persons, 40 of whom Escaped with their Lives. The public had a thirst for newsworthy events, and newspapers of the day did not include pictures. By producing this print, Nat gave the public a new way to “see” the news. The print sold reasonably well, an important fact that was not lost on Currier. Nat met and married Eliza Farnsworth in 1840. He also produced a print that same year titled Awful Conflagration of the Steamboat Lexington in Long Island Sound on Monday Evening, January 18, 1840, by which melancholy occurrence over One Hundred Persons Perished. This print sold out very quickly, and Currier was approached by an enterprising publication who contracted him to print a single sheet addition of their paper, the New York Sun. This single page paper is presumed to be the first illustrated newspaper ever published. The success of the Lexington print launched his career nationally and put him in a position to finally lift his family up. In 1841, Nat and Eliza had their first child, a son they named Edward West Currier. That same year Nat hired his twenty-one year old brother Charles and taught him the lithography trade, he also hired his artistically inclined brother Lorenzo to travel out west and make sketches of the new frontier as material for future prints. Charles worked for the firm on and off over the years, and invented a new type of lithographic crayon which he patented and named the Crayola. Lorenzo continued selling sketches to Nat for the next few years. In 1843, Nat and Eliza had a daughter, Eliza West Currier, but tragedy struck in early 1847 when their young daughter died from a prolonged illness. Nat and Eliza were grief stricken, and Eliza, driven by despair, gave up on life and passed away just four months after her daughter’s death. The subject of Nat Currier’s artwork changed following the death of his wife and daughter, and he produced many memorial prints and sentimental prints during the late 1840s. The memorial prints generally depicted grief stricken families posed by gravestones (the stones were left blank so the purchasers could fill in the names of the dearly departed). The sentimental prints usually depicted idealized portraits of women and children, titled with popular Christian names of the day. Late in 1847, Nat Currier married Lura Ormsbee, a friend of the family. Lura was a self-sufficient woman, and she immediately set out to help Nat raise six-year-old Edward and get their house in order. In 1849, Lura delivered a son, Walter Black Currier, but fate dealt them a blow when young Walter died one year later. While Nat and Lura were grieving the loss of their new son, word came from San Francisco that Nat’s brother Lorenzo had also passed away from a brief illness. Nat sank deeper into his natural quiet melancholy. Friends stopped by to console the couple, and Lura began to set an extra place at their table for these unexpected guests. She continued this tradition throughout their lives. In 1852, Charles introduced a friend, James Merritt Ives, to Nat and suggested he hire him as a bookkeeper. Jim Ives was a native New Yorker born in 1824 and raised on the grounds of Bellevue Hospital where his father was employed as superintendent. Jim was a self-trained artist and professional bookkeeper. He was also a plump and jovial man, presenting the exact opposite image of his new boss. Jim Ives met Charles Currier through Caroline Clark, the object of Jim’s affection. Caroline’s sister Elizabeth was married to Charles, and Caroline was a close friend of the Currier family. Jim eventually proposed marriage to Caroline and solicited an introduction to Nat Currier, through Charles, in hopes of securing a more stable income to support his future wife. Ives quickly set out to improve and modernize his new employer’s bookkeeping methods. He reorganized the firm’s sizable inventory, and used his artistic skills to streamline the firm’s production methods. By 1857, Nathaniel had become so dependent on Jims’ skills and initiative that he offered him a full partnership in the firm and appointed him general manager. The two men chose the name ‘Currier & Ives’ for the new partnership, and became close friends. Currier & Ives produced their prints in a building at 33 Spruce Street where they occupied the third, fourth and fifth floors. The third floor was devoted to the hand operated printing presses that were built by Nat's cousin, Cyrus Currier, at his shop Cyrus Currier & Sons in Newark, NJ. The fourth floor found the artists, lithographers and the stone grinders at work. The fifth floor housed the coloring department, and was one of the earliest production lines in the country. The colorists were generally immigrant girls, mostly German, who came to America with some formal artistic training. Each colorist was responsible for adding a single color to a print. As a colorist finished applying their color, the print was passed down the line to the next colorist to add their color. The colorists worked from a master print displayed above their table, which showed where the proper colors were to be placed. At the end of the table was a touch up artist who checked the prints for quality, touching-in areas that may have been missed as it passed down the line. During the Civil War, demand for prints became so great that coloring stencils were developed to speed up production. Although most Currier & Ives prints were colored in house, some were sent out to contract artists. The rate Currier & Ives paid these artists for coloring work was one dollar per one hundred small folios (a penny a print) and one dollar per one dozen large folios. Currier & Ives also offered uncolored prints to dealers, with instructions (included on the price list) on how to 'prepare the prints for coloring.' In addition, schools could order uncolored prints from the firm’s catalogue to use in their painting classes. Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives attracted a wide circle of friends during their years in business. Some of their more famous acquaintances included Horace Greeley, Phineas T. Barnum, and the outspoken abolitionists Rev. Henry Ward, and John Greenleaf Whittier (the latter being a cousin of Mr. Currier). Nat Currier and Jim Ives described their business as "Publishers of Cheap and Popular Pictures" and produced many categories of prints. These included Disaster Scenes, Sentimental Images, Sports, Humor, Hunting Scenes, Politics, Religion, City and Rural Scenes, Trains, Ships, Fire Fighters, Famous Race Horses, Historical Portraits, and just about any other topic that satisfied the general public's taste. In all, the firm produced in excess of 7500 different titles, totaling over one million prints produced from 1835 to 1907. Nat Currier retired in 1880, and signed over his share of the firm to his son Edward. Nat died eight years later at his summer home 'Lion’s Gate' in Amesbury, Massachusetts. Jim Ives remained active in the firm until his death in 1895, when his share of the firm passed to his eldest son, Chauncey. In 1902, faced will failing health from the ravages of Tuberculosis, Edward Currier sold his share of the firm to Chauncey Ives...

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