Life and works of loui prang Essay Example For Students

Life and works of loui prang Essay This essay discusses the life and work of 19th century chromolithographer Louis Prang, hailed as the greatest of American chromolithograph publishers. In it, I shall firstly introduce Louis Prang. Then I shall describe the graphic form which became known as chromolithography, after which I will have a look at Louis Prangs setting; his competitors and associates. After this I will focus on some examples of his work and the methods he used to produce them. Lastly I will summarize his contribution to the world of art and graphic design in particular. Louis Prang was born in Germany in Breslau (present day Poland) in 1824. He learnt the fundamentals of printing in his fathers fabric printing shop. In 1850, when Prang was twenty- six years old he immigrated to America and settled in Boston. He formed a chromolithographic firm with Julius Mayer in 1856 in which, initially, Julius Mayer printed the stones produced by Prang. Prangs colourful work was very popular and the firm grew rapidly. In 1860 Prang bought Mayers share in the company and changed its name to L. Prang and Company. Prangs company became a major lithographic firm and a benchmark of the era. A Lithograph was produced by firstly drawing the image on a flat stone surface in an oil based medium, the stone is then moistened with water which is repelled by the oil the surface is then inked with an oil based ink which is unable to adhere to the wet surface. A Chromolithograph is a coloured picture produced by making and superimposing multiple lithographic prints, each of which adds a different colour. The process of colour lithography was first experimented with in the early 1800s by Aloys Senefelder the inventor of lithography, while chromolithography was patented in 1837 by a French printer Godefroy Engelmann. When Prang set up shop in Boston there were already several lithographic firms in operation one such firm which provided a source of inspiration as well as competition was Bufford and later his sons also. Bufford often used five or more colours in his work; he laid his colour prints down before printing a final layer of black which assembled his image, for an example of his work see the Swedish song quartet. Buffords firms quality steadily declined after 1870, after Buffords death, and finally folded in 1890. Buffords firm was then only in competition with Prangs during Prangs first years of operation. Unlike Bufford, Prang opted not to use a black master plate but to rather build up an image from subtler colours in an effort to print with a closer likeness to the natural colours in the paintings he was reproducing. (See the visual explanation he gives with Prangs Prize Babies.) Currier and Ives, which operated from 1857-1907 were his biggest competitors and were based in New York Ci ty. Currier and Ives mostly reproduced scenes from battle and landscape paintings. They too, followed the style of Bufford and sons including the use of a black final print. Their work was slightly less sensitive than that of Louis Prangs but because they used fewer stones they were able to compete because of their prices. Prang and his company produced many chromolithographs during his career including scenes from the Civil War, art reproductions, scrap-album art and cards, particularly Christmas cards. Prang is noted for his firm grasp of colour, he put vivid colour in the lives of every citizen by publishing literally millions of art bits, Bits of art he called scrap, collecting these and arranging them along with other treasures in scrap albums became a major Victorian pastime. Many of the scrap pieces were depictions of wildflowers, children, butterflies, animals and birds, and the scrap albums became the expression of the nostalgic sweetness of the era. By the late 1860s Prang was producing work that was suitable for framing. Prang reproduced the paintings of many of Americas leading artists in his prints, including those by A.F. Tait, Eastman Johnson, Thomas Moran, F.S. Church, and Albert Bierstadt. Often the artist worked in collaboration with Prang to produce the piece and more often than not both the artist and public would regard the reproduction as a piece of art in its own right. In Prangs Chromo, a magazine he launched in the late 1860s, he advertised his prints in this way:Prangs American Chromos. The Democracy of Art . . . Our Chromo Prints are absolute FACSIMILES of the originals, in color, drawing, and spirit, and their price is so low that every home may enjoy the luxury of possessing a copy of works of art, which hitherto adorned only the parlors of the rich. Besides reproducing fine art, Prang was constantly pushing the edges of format for this new media. In 1873 Prang produced small colour trade cards which he distri buted at the Vienna International Exhibition; these were sold in bulk (over twenty thousand) with room for the traders information either on the back or in a space provided on the front. It was the suggestion of the wife of his London agent that the ribbon or scroll on the cards be filled in with a Christmas greeting and be sold as a Christmas card . These first Prang Christmas cards were sold in England and proved to be a great success. Two years later, in 1875, Prang started publishing and selling American Christmas cards. They were a great success, so much so that Prang became known as the Father of the Christmas Card regardless of the fact that he was not the first person to invent or produce them. His Christmas cards included popular theme icons such as St. Nick, reindeer, children and Christmas trees. His Christmas cards were followed by an entire range of cards for Easter, Valentines Day, New Years and birthday cards. His cards became an aspect of society, young ladies are sa id to have noted in their diaries how many Prangs they had received that year . So successful were his cards that he could not keep up with the demand and was printing approximately five million cards each year. Cards Dominated Prangs printing presses for most of the 1880s and as his card designs became more and more popular so the competition rose; his rivals began printing similar designs with fewer stones, undercutting the cost. Frankenstein By Mary Shelley Story EssayLouis Prang Prize Babies1888From Prangs book: Prangs Prize Babies: How This Picture Is Made Boston: L. Prang Co., 1888 Prang developed this image in his book Prangs Prize Babies: How This Picture is Made to showcase his developments and refinement of chromolithography. In it he shows each progressive print from the first layer of printing to the last and nineteenth of the popular print, Prangs Prize Babies Prangs Prize Babies was a book sold door-to-door by traveling salesmen and saleswomen. The thirty-eight progressive proof prints (one of which is shown here) were printed in a limited edition given to those who sold the most prints, as an encouragement for their successful sales record. J.F. Herring. Just Caught. Boston: L. Prang, ca.1860- 1880s. 19.7 cm x 32.5cm.An British Sporting print which was measured against the American sporting images by Tait, Prang issued British sporting prints, for these were as popular in the nineteenth centur y America, particularly amoungst the naturalized citizens, as they are today. This bright image based on one of the greatest of the British artists of this genre, J.F. Herring. Snowy Owl plate and cover page from Louis Prangs Natural History Series vol. 11 cm x 7 cm. This Chromolithograph of an illustrated Snowy Owl was published in Louis Prangs Natural History Series in 1872.The inscription on the page border reads: O. Birds of prey / F. Owls / 22 in. 1. Wings 4 ft. / N. America ; N. Eu.Louis Prang was Americas first real art educator as he believed that all children should study art in the same way that they study language, for instance. In his day, art education was only for amateur artists and young ladies in finishing school. Louis Prang believed that artistic experience and observation quickens the imagination and independence of expression. When he wanted to teach his daughter art, Louis Prang realized the serious lack of art educational material and developed instructional g uides as well as a complete educational curriculum then trained the countrys first art instructors. He printed reproductions of famous art works and published the first American art textbooks: Art in the School Room and Art Education in High Schools. In one such book from 1880, he says drawing is the language of form: Art Education is the development of this language, and consists of the appreciation of it in industry and general culture.Louis Prang contributed an amazing amount to the area of American art by being entrepreneurial, committed and innovative. He established a successful and competitive printing firm, refined the process of chromolithography to reproduce subtle hues as those found in oil paintings. His reproductions made fine art more accessible to regular people. He produced scenes from the Civil War of America Which help future generations to understand the period. He initiated the tradition of buying and giving Christmas Cards by producing beautiful cards. Finally, Throughout his Career he was constantly looking for aspects of the art field in which he could make a contribution, he did this by publishing magazines and book amoung other things. This attitude also caused him to become the first American art educator, which led him to publish further works on art education. bib:The Philadelphia Print Shop, Ltd. www.philaprintshop.com Last updated February 3, 2005 Penne L. Restad, Christmas In America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), page 118. The Dixon Ticonderoga Companies ( the Continued Prang Co.) www.dixonusa.comPictur from The Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA lcweb2.loc.govPrint Collection of Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, The New York Public LibraryWebsites and reading material:Phillip B Meggs; A History of Graphic DesignUniversity of Delaware: www.lib.udel.eduThe Art of the Print: www.theartoftheprint.comAntiques and Collectibles, Father of the American Christmas card: www.suite101.com/article.cfmLivaudais Christmas Card Collection: www.livaudaisnet.comAbsolute arts: www.absolutearts.com/arthistoryM.A. Stankiewics; Roots of Art Education