A Bare Chance
After Thomas B. Worth American
Publisher Currier & Ives American
Not on view
Thomas Worth designed many satires for Currier & Ives whose humor derives from verbal-visual puns. This example shows a man swimming in a river confronted by a bear that has seized his rifle and killed his dog, separating the hunter from his clothes. The New York lithographic firm 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. Until the 1880s, images were printed in monochrome, then hand-colored by women who worked for the company.
