The Darktown Fire Brigade -- A Prize Squirt: "Now den! Shake her up once moah fur de Mug."

Publisher Currier & Ives American

Not on view

The late nineteenth-century Darktown prints by Currier & Ives depict racist stereotypes that are offensive and disturbing. The Metropolitan
Museum of Art preserves such works to shed light on their historical context and to enable the study and evaluation of racism.

In many towns across America, community fire companies often marked holidays with parades and contests, including pumping challenges, with a "Mug" being offered as the prize.This print, depicting caricatured Black (African American) figures, shows a six-man fire brigade (all wearing red shirts and blue pants) in a pumping contest to show off the water power of the Niagara company's flower-bedecked pumper wagon (labeled Niagara). At the front of the wagon, the fire chief stands with one leg on the hose coil in front of the pump; he holds his fire voice trumpet in one hand, and waves his fireman's hat in his other hand to encourage his grimacing four-man crew (at the right of the image) to pull more vigorously on the long pump handle. At left, standing on the ground in front of the wagon, a fireman aims the fire hose spouting water towards a liberty cap atop a red/white striped pole (shown at the far left). To win the prize, the water squirt must reach the hat; but this attempt falls short. In the left background, a group of spectators watch the event; in front of them, an official (dressed in a white top hat, blue tails jacket, and red/white striped trousers) holds the "Prize Mug" trophy. The title and caption are imprinted in the bottom margin below the image.





Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888), whose successful New York-based lithography firm began in 1835, produced thousands of prints in various sizes that together create a vivid panorama of mid-to-late nineteenth century American life and its history. People eagerly acquired such lithographs featuring picturesque scenery, rural and city views, ships, railroads, portraits, hunting and fishing scenes, domestic life and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments. As the firm expanded, Nathaniel included his younger brother Charles in the business. In 1857, James Merritt Ives (1824–1895), the firm's accountant since 1852 and Charles's brother-in-law, was made a business partner. Subsequently renamed Currier & Ives, the firm continued via their successors until 1907.

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