Midnight Race on the Mississippi
Medium
Hand-colored lithograph
Dimensions
Image: 9 in. × 13 1/4 in. (22.8 × 33.6 cm) Sheet: 10 7/8 × 13 13/16 in. (27.6 × 35.1 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Adele S. Colgate, 1962
Accession Number
63.550.96
Tags
Art Historical Context
**Midnight Race on the Mississippi (1875) is a vibrant hand-colored lithograph by renowned American firm Currier & Ives, lithography by S.L. Thorpe. Capturing the thrill of a nighttime steamboat race on mighty Mississippi River, this print about 9 by 13 inches and evokes the drama of illuminated paddlewheelers churning through dark waters under starry skies. Produced during the Gilded Age, it reflects the era's obsession with river commerce and spectacle, when steamboat races drew massive crowds as symbols of American ingenuity and progress. Currier & Ives, often called "the printmakers to th...