New York Ferry Boat

Currier & Ives

ca. 1860–65 · Hand-colored lithograph · Drawings and Prints

In this marine view, a ferryboat moves left, smoke billows from its central stack, and two large American flags stream backwards, with passengers seen on the decks. Densely packed masts of moored ships in the right background indicate a site near the piers and docks that line Manhattan's southern tip. The New York firm of Currier & Ives grew from a printing business established by Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888) in 1835. Expansion led, in 1857, to a partnership with James Merritt Ives (1824–1895). The firm operated until 1907, lithographing over 4,000 subjects for distribution across America and Europe with popular categories including landscape, marines, natural history, genre, caricatures, portraits, history and foreign views. Until the 1880s, images were printed in monochrome, then hand-colored by women who worked for the company.

Artist

Currier & Ives

Date

ca. 1860–65

Medium

Hand-colored lithograph

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

The Edward W. C. Arnold Collection of New York Prints, Maps and Pictures, Bequest of Edward W. C. Arnold, 1954