Prang's Civil War Pictures: The Complete Battle Chromos of Louis Prang (North's Civil War) [Hardcover]

Harold Holzer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0823221180 | ISBN-13: 978-0823221189 | Edition: 1

During the 1880s, a German-born, Boston-based picture publisher successfully commissioned the most ambitious series of battle prints ever published. Louis Prang, best known as the father of the Christmas card,hired noted military and marine artists to create original scenes of combat, and then reproduced their works in a wildly popular portfolio of chromolithographs. He called the set Prang's War Pictures.They were offered to an eager public accompanied by descriptive textsthat told the story of each engagement through eyewitness recollection by the heroes of each action. The set proved both appealing and influential, selling vigorously in various editions for a generation, and elevating the stature of military illustration in America. For 20 years, Civil War prints for the masses had featured uninspired, one-dimensional views of armies in hand-to-hand combat.Prang and his artists demonstrated genuine skill and imaginative perspective. They showed both real carnage and important technological advances, revealing both the broad sweep of panoramic battlefields and the intimate action of individual combatants.These famously sepia-toned chromos went on to become familiar illustrations in books and magazines-often offered as definitive examples of Civil War art. But until now, the complete set of 18 chromos has never been collected in a single volume. And the original Descriptive Textsfirst offered Prang's customers as marketing brochures to boost sales-a priceless historical archive in and of themselves-have never been published since, anywhere.Holzer reunites pictures and texts in an authoritative, milestone volume orchestrating prints and descriptions that resurrect Prang's original conception of battle art for the masses for a new generation. The book also features reproductions of the original works of art that inspired the prints, created on commission by battle painter Thure de Thulstrup and naval specialist Julian Oliver Davidson-now housed in art collections around the country-but seldom seen since they were commissioned by Prang as models for his ambitious chromolithographs. This long-needed complete Prang portfolio will undoubtedly become an essential collectible for Civil War aficionados in the country, as well as for libraries and university collections increasingly aware of the importance of art and iconography in defining the Civil War experience and the impact of Civil War memory.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Prang's Civil War Pictures proves...that the editor is the foremost expert on the iconography of America's Middle Period." -- Chief Justice Frank J. Williams, Chair, The Lincoln Forum

"This splendid volume should stand as the definitive treatment of Prang and his work." -- Gary W. Gallagher, Professor of History at the University of Virginia and author of Lee and His Generals in War and Memory

About the Author

Harold Holzer, Senior Vice President for External Affairs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, is one of the nation's leading authorities on Lincoln and the political culture of the Civil War era. He served as co-chairman of the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and has written, co-written, or edited 35 books.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 184 pages
• Publisher: Fordham University Press; 1 edition (October 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823221180
• ISBN-13: 978-0823221189
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,068,902 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Parlor Art of the Civil War, September 15, 2002

By 

Matzenik (North Carolina, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prang's Civil War Pictures: The Complete Battle Chromos of Louis Prang (North's Civil War) (Hardcover)

Given the expanding public interest in the American Civil War that began with the centenary in the 1960s, this book has been a long time coming. Louis Prang's series of chromolithographs are representative of a period in commercial art that he helped to pioneer, and which lasted until the first decade of the twentieth century. With the style established, everything from farm implements to insurance were advertised with heroic scenes from the nation's history. In more recent times it has been almost impossible to see the complete set of pictures outside obscure collections. Editor Harold Holtzer gives interesting insights into Prang, his artists, and their technique.
Prang marketed his prints in much the same way that our contemporary military artists do. Apart from fashionable gallery openings any military history publication will have several advertisements for prints of battle scenes and historical vignettes. Modern painters focus on period accuracy in microscopic detail and brilliant color. Although Prang was concerned with accuracy some small errors found their way into his work. But anyone who studies that period beyond the superficial, must be drawn into these old pictures. By this process we enter the late Victorian parlor of the veteran and his family.
The charm of the lithographs lies in their mood and atmosphere, which was due in part to the lithographic process itself, and also to the impressionistic influences of the 1880s. The quality of southern summer dust predominates throughout the series. Coal and powder smoke combine in operatic storm clouds. Sunset tones provide nostalgic lighting for the memories of a generation's youth that had already passed into legend. It is not only facsinating to see the events that that generation passed through, but also how they remembered them.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fine insights and descriptions, November 13, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prang's Civil War Pictures: The Complete Battle Chromos of Louis Prang (North's Civil War) (Hardcover)

Prang's Civil War Pictures gathers the complete battle chromos of Louis Prang under one cover for the first time, creating an outstanding documentation of the original works of art which inspired Prang's prints. Pictures and accompanying background text provide fine insights and descriptions for both newcomers to Prang's works and those with some prior familiarity with Prang, but not his models.