Grade Five Portfolio F – Stella & Currier & Ives MEET THE MASTERS Grade Five Portfolio F – Stella & Currier & Ives

USA & EUROPE New York NY USA Paris FRANCE Muro Lucano ITALY Leicester ENGLAND

THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE– 1939 WHITNEY MUSEUM – NEW YORK Size: 70”x 42” Medium: Oil on Canvas

JOSEPH STELLA (1877-1946) Joseph Stella was born in Italy in Muro Lucano, Potenza. Like his brother, he came to New York in 1896 to study medicine. He turned instead to art, studying at Art Student League and the New York School of Art. From 1905 to 1909, he worked as an illustrator for popular journals in NY. In 1909, he went back to Europe, where he learned about Modernism, which would mold his style, notable for strong colors and dynamic lines. In 1911, he went to Paris where “Fauvism, Cubism, and Futurism” was in fashion. There he met Gertrude Stein, a famous American writer and art collector who introduced him to the works of Picasso and Cezanne. Back in NY in 1913, Stella became fascinated with Lower Manhattan architecture, subjects that he repeated many times. The ‘Brooklyn Bridge”, painted in 1939, is nearly six foot tall. The neo-Gothic style of the massive pointed arches evokes medieval churches, with the series of fractured perspectives resembling stained glass windows. By combining contemporary architecture and historical allusions, Stella transformed the Brooklyn Bridge into a 20th Century symbol of divinity. Brooklyn Bridge Built: 1869-1883

LOWER MANHATTAN 1939 ITALY AND MURO LUCANO GOTHIC CATHEDRAL

MARC CHAGALL PAUL CEZANNE GERTRUDE STEIN, PABLO PICASSO AND CUBISM

ACROSS THE CONTINENT-1862 (WESTWARD THE COURSE OF EMPIRE TAKES ITS WAY) MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK SIZE: 20.1” x 27.3 ” MEDIUM: LITHOGRAPH

CURRIER & IVES - FRANCES B. PALMER (1812-1876) Located in New York, the firm Currier & Ives described itself as "Publishers of Cheap and Popular Prints". At least 7,500 lithographs were published in the firm's 72 years of operation. For the original drawings, Currier & Ives employed or used the works of many celebrated artists, including “Fanny” Frances Flora Bond Palmer. Palmer was born in Leicester, England in 1812. Her family moved to New York in 1844, where they set up a lithograph business. When the business failed, she was hired by Nathaniel Currier in 1851. Palmer liked to paint picturesque panoramas of the American landscape, and was the first woman in the United States to make her living as a full-time artist. She retired from Currier & Ives in 1868 at the age of 66. After Currier died in 1888, Ives remained active in the firm until his death in 1895. Their sons followed them into the business, which was eventually liquidated in 1907.

Nathaniel Currier James Merritt Ives “Fanny” Frances Palmer Born: March 27, 1813 Where: Roxbury, Massachusetts Died: November 20, 1888 (aged 75) Nationality: American Known for: Lithography Born: March 5, 1824 Where: New York City, New York Died: January 3, 1895 (aged 71) Nationality: American Known for: Lithography Born: July 24, 1812 Where: Leicester, England Died: August, 20 1876 (aged 64) Nationality: English Known for: Lithography

Lithography was invented in the 19th-century by German playwright Aloys Senefelder. Unlike relief and intaglio printing, the matrix used in lithography is completely flat. All lithographs at Currier & Ives were produced on lithographic limestone printing plates on which the drawing was done by hand using crayons or pencils and then treated with chemicals. A stone often took over a week to prepare for printing. Each print was pulled by hand. Prints were hand-colored by a dozen or more women, often immigrants from Germany with an art background.

AMERICAN TIMELINE 19th Century 1883 - Brooklyn Bridge by Currier & Ives AMERICAN TIMELINE 19th Century

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