The Narrows – New York Bay From Staten Island
Publisher Currier & Ives American
Not on view
This rural landscape frames a view from Staten Island's shore, with men, women and children climbing a hilly path to rest on the grass in the foreground. Buildings line the near waterline, ships and boats plie the water, and two narrowing shorelines form the Narrows in the distance.
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.
