A Put Up Job

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 this winter scene, a caricatured elderly Black (African American) couple (at right) -- dressed in heavy winter coats, scarves, gloves, hats -- walk towards the viewer past a building (at left). The woman holds a prayer book in her left hand, while her right hand holds onto the man's left arm; the bespectacled man has a prayer book in his coat pocket as he holds a long stick (used as a cane) in his right hand. Behind them, others walk through the snow; a church steeple is visible in the right background. At left, five Black boys stand against the building's brick wall; each holds a snowball in his right hand. They are about to throw the snowballs at the couple. The print's title is imprinted in the bottom margin. Also see the companion print "A Fall from Grace" (Metropolitan Museum of Art accession no. 52.632.80; Peters 305, Gale 1978).

Nathaniel Currier, 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 (the firm's accountant since 1852 and Charles's brother-in-law) was made a business partner; subsequently renamed Currier & Ives, the firm continued until 1907. The artist of this print is Thomas Worth, a prolific nineteenth-century illustrator who excelled at drawing horses and other subjects, many of which were made into lithographs published by Currier & Ives.