A Positive Process from a Negative Result: "Try yer funny bizness on us, -- will yer?"

By the time this print was made in 1890, photography portrait studios could be found in numerous American cities since the early 1840s. In this comic portrait photography studio scene, a sitter reacts angrily to his unflattering portrait. A bulldog-faced man-- wearing a blue jacket, a pink vest, and pants patterned with a bold plaid-- stands threateningly over a man (the photographer), who is on his hands and knees crouching in fear, while a bulldog bites his left ear. The standing man is about to swing (like a baseball bat) a large camera, which he holds by its tripod legs; he intends to hit the rear end of the battered man, whose clothes are now utterly tattered. The room shows tevidence of a fight: two unframed photographs are scattered in the foreground; at left, there is a toppled table and two broken chairs (with red upholstery). On the wall-papered wall in the background, two framed pictures hang askew to the right of a closed door. Broken glass and liquids (photography chemicals) appear as a small heap against the wall (right background). The title and caption are imprinted in the bottom margin.


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.