Rude Stairway, from the series, Views in Central Park, New York, Part 2
Medium
Color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 in. × 2 3/8 in. (10.2 × 6.1 cm)
Classification
Prints|Ephemera
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, Gift of Jefferson R. Burdick, 1947
Accession Number
47.91.25(30)
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the nascent greenery of 1860s New York with *Rude Stairway, the series, Views in Park, New York, 2*, a charming color lithograph produced by Louis Prang & Co. in 1864. This print (just 4 × 2⅜ inches) captures a rustic stairway amid the park's early landscapes, likely featuring men and women strolling or ascending its uneven steps. Central Park, opened in 1858 as a democratic oasis amid the city's bustle, symbolized urban progress and leisure during the Civil War era, and Prang's series documented its allure for a growing middle class. Louis Prang, a German-born innovator in American...
About the Artist
Louis Prang & Co. · 1800–1950
Louis Prang & Co. was the Boston printing firm that introduced the Christmas card to the American public and elevated chromolithography to the level of a serious art form. Its founder, Louis Prang (1824–1909), was born in Breslau, Prussia (now Wrocław, Poland), where he trained as a cloth printer and dyer. After participating in revolutionary activity against the Prussian government, he fled first...