Happy New Year

In this wintry scene with snow falling, a thin man, wearing a thin overcoat, walks along a country road. He holds a red newspaper underneath his right arm, since his hands are in his pockets. He is startled by a husky man (wearing a red scarf tied over his ears) approaching from behind a large tree (at right). The brawny man gestures for a handout by extending his left hand holding his upside down hat, yet he also appears threatening as his right hand holds the small end of a big club resting on the ground. Leafless trees are in soft focus in the background. The title (printed beneath the image within quotation marks) is an ironic one.

Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888), who had established his successful New York-based lithography firm in 1835, produced thousands of hand-colored prints in various sizes that together create a vivid panorama of nineteenth century American life. In 1857, Currier made James Merritt Ives (1824–1895) a business partner; the Currier & Ives firm operated until 1907. Many eagerly acquired Currier & Ives lithographs, such as those featuring spectacular American landscapes, rural and city views, images of boats and trains, hunting and fishing scenes, domestic life, humorous pictures, and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments.