Thursday, April 23, 2009

Louis Prang, "Father of the American Christmas Card"

Louis Prang, a German immigrant to Boston in the early 1850s, is known as the “Father of the American Christmas Card,” and most notably brought art into the American home as well as the public classroom by way of chromolithographs and school art supplies. He was born in Germany in 1824 and was one of several children. Due to his persistent ill health at a young age, which prevented him from attending school and obtaining a formal education, he accompanied and was apprenticed to his father, Jonas Louis Prang, a French Huguenot, designing, engraving, printing, and dying various mediums from the age of 13 to 18 years old. Perhaps due to his political views, Prang was forced to leave his country and travel throughout Europe. On Nov. 1, 1851, he married Rosa Gerber, a Swiss woman he had met during his travels, in Boston. “Bouquet of Roses,” one of the first chromolithographic prints he created, was fashioned in her honor.

It was the American public’s fascination with Civil War territory disputes, battles and troop movements coupled with the lack of newspapers’ ability to print photographic images which provided Prang with a unique opportunity to put his skills to use. He manufactured some of the first mass produced maps with red and blue lines, which illustrated troop movements and positions of opposing forces on the battlefields. It allowed those on the home-front to track troop advances and retreats through victories and defeats throughout the war. By 1864, the soaring popularity of these maps provided Prang with enough money to travel with his wife and daughter to Europe. Around 1864, he took the concept of well wishing cards from the 1840s and published a series of Christmas themed prints, intended to decorate private dwellings. At the suggestion of a London colleague’s wife in the 1870s, Prang omitted the names and addresses on his popular trade cards and instead inserted seasonal greetings, thus creating the modern Christmas card. The end of the Civil War and Prang’s return to the United States set in motion his efforts to produce commercial art prints replicating the high quality of European art at a semi-affordable price, yet he was unsure of American acceptance and reaction to finer and more expensive art at about $6.00 a print. He produced his first chromolithograph, which he dubbed as “chromos,” in 1866. They were cheaper yet high quality reproductions of original oil paintings he had admired elsewhere. Culture purists and opponents labeled Prang’s reproductions as “frauds” and “shams.” Despite his critics, he won a host of awards on the international scale for his work. In 1898, tragedy struck as his wife, Rosa Gerber Prang, passed away. On April 15, 1900, Louis Prang married long time business associate, Mary Dana Hicks, and the two remained happily married until Louis Prang’s death in 1909 at a California sanitarium. He had been an outspoken advocate for bringing art, previously enjoyed only by the privileged few, into the classroom through the introduction of products like watercolor paints, which immortalized his name for generations of schoolchildren. The Prang Educational Company oversaw these efforts, which were taken on by American Crayon Company upon the merger of the two.

8 comments:

Lori E said...

I collect vintage looking cards. Unfortunately the real ones are too expensive. They really were interesting. It is nice to know more about where they first came from.

Michelle May said...

Thank you for your interest in our site, can you resubmit your comment? I would love to add your link to the comment section of the Louis Prang post. Your site is inspirational!

http://einvitesinsights.blogspot.com/2008/12/little-tribute-tool-louie.html

arootdigger2 said...

I think I might check a little at census and such to see if Mr. Prang ever had a 'e' at end of his name.

You have such a nice professional blog, I am going to add it to my arootdigger blog.

Martha six said...

I saw the picture of the black box of Prang crayons and my heart skipped a beat as the image took me back to my grade school days 1951 at Campbell Elementary School where we were given a new, fresh box of crayons the first day of school. I always loved the scent of Prang crayons and was sad when they no longer had Sandusky Ohio printed on the box.

Anonymous said...

The american crayon company had a factory located in brooklyn ny in the early 1940's my aunt worked there and has very fond memories. I was wondering if anyone is aware of a photo of that plant or factory. It was during the war and the employees were very kind o her. I have exhaused all research avenues so if someone knows where I could obtain a copy of this I would forever be in your debt and it would make one elderly lady's day. Thanks in advance for reading

quickdrawk said...

I want to buy some crayons!! I use them in my job and I can't find them anymore. I love the PRANG BLACK. They are softer than the new CRAYOLAS which don't work as well for what I do. WHERE CAN I PURCHASE BOXES OF BLACK PRANG CRAYONS???

frizzlefrap said...

I don't want to sound mean, but, I think one reason prang lost a lot of business is because they must have never expanded their sales territory. I never saw any prang products even sold in this area at one point in time and most stores were only selling Crayola or some cheap imported product. when I was young, nothing beat their product (absolutely the best crayon and water color paint kit that I've ever used)

Anonymous said...

I used to work as a clerk typist in the sales department of the American Crayon Company
after graduation. Everyone was so nice. I used a manual black typewriter with keys that went click click...we shipped crayons various ways and the railroad. I miss the black box of quality Prang crayons., railroad chalk, paints etc. Guess the business was taken over by Crayola back East. Guess that is what we see now in the stores too bad. We didn't use computers, filed cards, used dial phones, sent shipping cards to customers, no emails back then. Like was simple, but business went on.