The Rubber–"Put to his Trumps"

Louis Maurer, the German-born artist of this print, arrived in America via clipper ship in 1851, and shortly thereafter was employed by Nathaniel Currier to make lithographs exclusively for his firm. Until 1860, Maurer made dozens of prints capturing aspects of American life for Currier & Ives; Maurer later worked for other commercial printing firms, eventually establishing his own company in 1872. This lithograph presents a tavern interior with four men seated around a table playing cards. The men eye their cards and each other suspiciously; the oldest white-haired man (facing the viewer) receives advice from a young man who leans over to whisper in his ear. The print's title refers to rubber bridge, a form of contract bridge played by two competing pairs using a particular method of scoring. Maurer here presents the deciding game, when the leading player (presumably the elder gentleman) uses his trump cards to outrank the other cards still in play and thus win. There are also other captivating details in this scene, such as, an old man smoking a long pipe who observes the card game from an open window; a napping dog; and a portrait print of George Washington hanging on the wall above the fireplace.

Nathaniel Currier, who established a successful New York-based lithography firm in 1835, produced thousands of hand-colored prints in various sizes that together create a vivid panorama of mid-to-late nineteenth century American life. In 1857, Currier made the accounting-savvy James Merritt Ives (1824-1895), the brother-in-law of Nathaniel's brother Charles, a business partner. People eagerly acquired Currier & Ives lithographs, such as those featuring spectacular American landscapes, or rural and city views, hunting and fishing scenes, domestic life and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments.

The Currier & Ives firm operated until 1907, making lithographic prints of more than 4,000 subjects for distribution across America and Europe of such popular categories also including 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. In the late nineteenth century, Currier & Ives began to print lithographs in color.