Ives Pub (2 results)

Lithograph with original hand-colouring by Parsons & Atwater. Two of the "floating palaces" that sailed the Hudson River. A fine example. This very handsome portrait of two of the great Hudson River steamboats: the Drew and the St. John, was drawn by the artistic team of Charles R. Parsons and Lyman Atwater, who provided Currier & Ives some their best martime scenes and city views. Here Parsons and Atwater capture two of the luxury steamers that plied the Hudson during what could be called the Golden Age of steamboat travel. Once it was discovered that trains could make the trip from Albany to New York in half the time the stemboats could, owners needed to find alternative attractions. One attraction was to race the steamboats, and several great Curriers chronicle that phenomenon, but racing caused overheated boilers and explosions, and a much more lasting and appealing alternative was found in luxury cruises. Launched in the 1860s, during the war, the Drew and St. John (named after Daniel Drew and Alanson J. St. John, founders of the People's Line Steamers) became the favored way to travel to Saratoga Springs and Lake George and back. Elegantly designed and enormous, these boats with grand, inlaid mahogany staircases, huge mirrors and paintings, magnificent restaurants and arcades could serve as symbols of the Gilded Age. All New York society traveled thus. The title, "American Steamboats on the Hudson. "with its seemingly unnecessary "American", is actually a competitive reference to British steamboats, such as the Great Eastern, that were transforming world travel and trade, and maintaining Britain's dominance at sea. The patriotic message is that these beautiful, perfectly tailored and luxurious steamships exceeded the British boats in every way that truly mattered. Gale, 0210; Arthur G. Adams, The Hudson Through the Years, p. 185p; Cunningham, 196.

Hand-colored lithograph. #47 of the New Best Fifty Currier & Ives prints. The finest of all the steamboat racing scenes by the "foremost woman lithographer of her time." Passing between Anthony's Nose and Bear Mountain, the two passenger steamboats are seen virtually neck and neck in this midnight race between Albany and New York City. This is one of Fanny Palmer's most memorable and successful pictures. Steamboat racing was a dangerous and thrilling activity that tested the skill of captains and engineers. People often bet on the outcomes, but the races were often impromptu contests to the next landing. Here the artist shows the two vessels as having successfully passed the sharpest turn in the river. Fanny Palmer (1812-1876) was the first woman in the United States to work as a professional artist, and to make a living with her art. She produced more Currier and Ives' prints than any other artist. Known as Fanny, she worked for Nathaniel Currier for more than twenty-five years. She was, according to Gloria Deak, "the foremost woman lithographer of her time" (Picturing America, 647). Born and raised in England by a cultivated family, she was already an accomplished painter and lithographer when she came to America in 1844, at which time she exhibited two works at the National Academy of Design. By 1849, she was working for Currier producing landscapes and still lifes. She lithographed these prints herself, usually after her own sketches. Conningham 4474; Gale 4860.