Black and white print on blue paper of two views of life in the California mine fields. The upper view depicts a mining camp with Chinese men eating and working in front of three tents. The lower view depicts Chinese men gathered around a table in the foreground gambling while others look on in the background.
This hand-colored lithograph is a portrait of a man, probably Edmund Kean, dressed in a lavish medieval costume, performing Richard III by William Shakespeare. He is reclining on the floor with a sword beside him.
Edmund Kean (1787/89-1833) was born in London. There are conflicting versions of his early years, but he appears to have begun performing as a child. Some accounts claim he appeared onstage as Cupid at the age of four in Noverre’s ballet Cymon. An uncle who worked in the entertainment business sparked Kean’s early interest in Shakespeare, and he made his debut as a Shakespearean actor while still a teenager. With his short stature and harsh voice, Kean defied the image of the conventional Shakespearian actor of his time, but he developed a forceful and romantic style that turned him into a public sensation. He won widespread acclaim as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice in 1814 and went on to demonstrate his artistic range with impassioned performances as Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Othello, and Richard III. The writer Samuel Taylor Coleridge claimed seeing Kean act was "like reading Shakespeare by flashes of lightening."
He played to packed theaters when he launched an American tour in New York in 1820, starring in Richard III . But the temperamental reputation he’d acquired in England continued to grow in the United States, when he refused to appear at a Boston theater because the audience was too small. He left the country soon afterwards. The controversy was revived when he returned to the U.S. in 1825, sparking riots at the Park Theatre in New York. Kean also appeared on Canadian stages. During an 1826 visit to Quebec and Montreal, he was initiated into the Huron Indian tribe, made a chief, and given a tribal costume, which he often wore after returning to London. He even passed out visiting cards with his tribal name of Alanienouidet.
Kean was famous not only for his combative personality but his personal eccentricities, including playing with a pet lion he kept in his living room. A scandalous divorce trial, which included charges of adultery, contributed to the decline in his popularity. His career had faded, and his health was weakened by heavy drinking when he collapsed onstage in 1833 while performing in Othello with his son Charles. He died a few weeks later. His turbulent life inspired a play by Jean Paul Sartre called Kean . Another play, Alanienouidet, was based on Kean's encounter with the Huron tribe.
His son Charles Kean (1811-1868) came to be viewed as one of the leading tragic actors of his time, performing many of the same Shakespearian roles as his father Edmund. He was educated at Eton, was considered a gentleman, and well-liked by American audiences. If the sitter was Charles rather than Edmund, he would have been fairly young. A hand- written note on the back of the print indicates the sitter is Edmund and that it was from a performance at the Old Chestnut in Philadelphia in 1823 or 1825 though both the artist and lithographer primarily worked in New York.
This lithograph was produced by Imbert and Company. Anthony Imbert (1794/95-1834) was a French naval officer, marine painter, illustrator, and pioneering New York lithographer. He is believed to have arrived in the city from France around 1824, possibly along with the French military officer Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834) and remained there until his death. He established his lithographic firm, initially called Imbert & Co., around 1825. He began the business focusing on French themes and artists, then achieved a professional breakthrough when he was commissioned to print the Memoir, a commemorative volume celebrating the completion of the Erie Canal, prepared under the leadership of the Committee of the Common Council of the City of New York. The volume has been described as one of the first recorded American books illustrated with lithographs. It included the works of George Catlin and other well-known painters and also offered examples of various lithographic techniques of the time. Imbert also printed paintings of the Catskills, Niagara Falls and other natural landmarks, portraits, sheet music, book illustrations, and political and social satires.
The artist is William Henry Tuthill who was an engraver and lithographer active 1825.
This 1833 print is a commentary on President Andrew Jackson’s desire to revoke the charter of the Second National Bank of America. He believed the National Bank was unconstitutional and against the interests of the common man, but his many opponents in Congress disagreed. One of his biggest opponents during the so called Bank War, was Henry Clay, depicted in this print seated behind a table labeled “Clay & Co’s Highly-Approved Congress Water,” and holding a bottle in his hand. Next to Clay, is Jackson, doubled over and vomiting the words, “Veto,” “Responsibility,” and “Message.” To the left of Jackson, is fictional character, Major Jack Downing who states, “I kinder hinted to the Jineral I’gestd Congress Water and Responsibility wouldn’t agree on his stomach.” Created by journalist Seba Smith, the allegorical persona of Downing is often used to show the strong influence of the common man in Jackson’s decision making. Clay responds to Downing, “Tis good… it will bring forth Offensive matter.” Such offensive matter includes the devil, who is seen behind Jackson, holding a sack labeled “U.S. Treasures $28,000,000.”Beneath the print in fine script, is an advertising pitch for the “Congress Water,” speaking to the “beneficial effects” of the liquid.
The lithographer of this print is Ezra Bisbee (1820-1856). Bisbee was a political cartoonist and print maker based in New York City and Brooklyn as well as on the island of Antigua.
This print is a reference to the New York state election of 1837, where the Democrats lost to the Whigs. Democratic advisor, Amos Kendall is depicted holding an oversize copy of the newspaper, the “New York Courier and Enquirer,” with part of a headline visible and reading, “Whig Gain.” He reads the news to President Martin Van Buren, a native of New York who was heavily involved in state politics prior to ascending to the presidency, saying, “Oh Sir, we are undone. The Empire State is lost. We are routed in erry [sic] direction. The Whigs have 22,000 maj.” Van Buren who is seated and reviewing various reports on issues such as “Indian Treaties” and the “Treasury,” is visibly angry, holding a similar expression as former president, Andrew Jackson whose portrait he is sitting in front of. Instead of immediately addressing the electoral loss however, Van Buren runs through a list of other concerns, ending with “meanwhile, Blair must make the best of it.” That is a reference to Francis Preston Blair, the editor of the pro-Jackson newspaper, the “Globe.” This print serves to show that Van Buren had bigger things to worry about than the Whigs winning an election, though he should have been worried as he was defeated in the election of 1838 by Whig, William Henry Harrison.
The lithographer of this print is Moses Swett. He began his career in Boston around 1826, working with the Pendletons and Annin and Smith, and as the superintendent of the Senefelder Lithographic Co. from 1828 to 1829. In 1830 he moved to New York, and worked with George Endicott until 1836 when he moved to Washington.
