Partridge Shooting by [CURRIER & IVES pub.] PALMER, F. F. (1812-1876) - 1865

New York: Currier & Ives, 1865. Hand-colored lithograph. Large folio. Provenance: Donaldson, Lufkin &Jenrette Americana Collection Classic Currier & Ives hunting print by Fanny Palmer Fanny Palmer (1812-1876) was the first woman in the United States to work as a professional artist, and to make a living with her art. She produced more Currier and Ives' prints than any other artist, and she was the only female in a business dominated by men. Painting was not considered a suitable occupation for a woman, nor, of course, was lithography. Hers was a story common for Victorian wives, who were expected to keep house and be supported by their husbands. She however pursued a career in England and eventually in America, virtually supporting her family as her husband sank deeper into alcoholism and then supporting it in fact when he fell to his death on a hotel stairway in 1857. Her shooting prints show a fine understanding of the appeal the sport had for men: with their dogs, shotguns and hunting attire, walking through untamed country with a friend on autumn afternoons. Mrs. Palmer's husband enjoyed shooting fowl, as did Nathaniel Currier, and Palmer's dogs may have modelled for this image. Gale 5114, Peters 108.