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Prints by Ehrgott & Forbriger Prints

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Ehrgott, Forbriger & Co.

Ehrgott & Forbriger

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From the 1820s to 1840s, lithographic print publishers became well established in most large eastern cities in the United States, but the growing populations and economies of cities further west soon created enough of a market for new lithographic firms to be started west of the Appalachians. Cincinnati was one of the first western cities to develop its own thriving lithographic industry and one of its most important firms was that founded by Peter E. Ehrgott and Adolphus F.Forbriger in 1856. Ehrgott and Forbriger ran one of the most ambitious and creative lithographic firms in the mid-west, for instance introducing the first steam press west of New York City in 1868. Their output was typical of American lithographic firms, though they tended to specialize in historic prints during the Civil War.

Ehrgott & Forbriger prints:

McClernandSpacerFarragut
A series of uncolored lithographs of Civil War politicians and officers. Cincinnati: Ehrgott, Forbriger & Co., ca. 1862. Folio, ca. 12 1/2 x 9 1/2. Lithographs by Ehrgott, Forbriger & Co. Very good condition.

Perhaps in late 1861, but certainly by mid-1862, Ehrgott, Forbriger & Co. began to issue a series of portraits of Civil War figures: politicians as well as military and naval officers. These prints, which the firm continued to issue at least as late as 1864, were in many ways similar to the portraits issued by other firms such as Currier & Ives, however these Ehrgott, Forbriger & Co. are quite unlike the prints by other publishers in one salient feature.

FranklinFremont As discussed in Milt Kaplan's "Heads of States," (Winterthur Portfolio 6. Charlottesville, 1970 Pp. 135-150.) prints of different figures share the same, or very similar backgrounds, with the identical horses, landscapes, troops, ships, desks, and so forth. [Cf. illustrations of Gens. Franklin (left) and Fremont (right)] While some of the backgrounds the firm used appear only in one print, others are shared by between three and five figures, and one has as many as seven different generals sharing it. Overall, the firm issued seventy-nine different prints of sixty-nine different Union politicians and officers. The Ehrgott, Forbriger & Co. prints were issued separately for those in the mid-west who wanted to have these images of Union heroes and they have also been found in bound portfolios. However they are found, they are very rare and a fascinating part of Civil War history. For further information, see Mark E. Neely Jr. & Harold Holzer's The Union Image: Popular Prints of the Civil War North. (Chapel Hill, 2000.)


Politicians

Military

Naval



Opera March
"Opera March." Cincinnati: W.C. Peters & Sons; Louisville: Tripp & Cragg; New York: W. Hall & Son; St. Louis: Palmer & Weber; Louisville: D.F. Fouldsac. 1858. Music sheet. Tinted lithograph by Ehrgott, Forbriger & Co. Some wear to images and with old tape stains, but overall very good condition.

A detailed image of Opera Hall in Cincinnati on the cover of a music sheet issued in 1858. The tinted lithograph shows the front Pike's Opera Hall, a building that housed a number of businesses, including the Ehrgott, Forbriger & Co. firm that produced the lithograph. $65



RR map
"Map of the Cincinnati & Nashville Railroad and its connections with other roads & portions of roads. Compiled from the best authorities." Issued in J.D.B. DeBow's Review, Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial Progress and Resources. New Orleans, 1866. 13 x 14 1/4. Lithograph by Ehrgott, Forbriger & Co. Very good condition.

An interesting map issued to show the importance of completing the railroad between Cincinnati and Nashville. By the end of the Civil War an extensive network of railroads criss-crossed the North, with a less extensive but still reasonable network in the South. The need for connections between the lines of these two regions was obvious and thus the importance of a link from Cincinnati to Nashville. The map indicates that track existed from Cincinnati south to Danville, with the proposed route shown for the final link to Nashville. $250



Searle still lifeSpacerSearle Still Life


Still-lifes by Helen Searle. Ca. 1872. Chromolithographs, possibly by Ehrgott & Forbriger, Cincinnati. 17 3/4 x 22 1/4. Full margins, with register marks and color patches. Very good condition.

A pair of superb, fruit still life chromolithographs by American artist Helen R. Searle (1834-1884). Helen was born in Burlington, Vermont, the daughter of architect Henry Searle. The Searle family moved to Rochester, New York, where the highly talented Helen began to paint fruit, flower and game still-lifes. In 1863, she exhibited six paintings in Rochester and in the following years similar paintings at the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy. This led to her appointment as art teacher at Mrs. Bryan's Female Seminary in Batavia. Desiring to improve her skill, Helen set off to Germany, where she became the private student of Johann Wilhelm Preyer, the leading still-life painter in Düsseldorf. She refined her style to reflect the realism and clarity for which the Düsseldorf school was noted and continued to exhibit her paintings, including at the National Academy of Design from 1866 to 1868. Upon her return to the United States in 1871, Helen married painter and art critic, James William Pattison. They lived in France, where Helen exhibited at the Paris Salon, Germany and in England. In 1881, the Pattisons move back to New York, then Chicago, followed by Jacksonville, Illinois, where Helen died in 1884.

Though there is no publisher information on the print, it has been written that some of Searle's still-lifes were reproduced as chromolithographs by Ehrgott & Forbriger, printmakers from Cincinnati, one of the centers of chromolithographic printing in the United States. Whoever made this, the quality is first rate. This print is very rare and is a superb example of both a talented American artist and American printmaking in the nineteenth century.