Louis Prang & Co.
Father of American Christmas cards
Louis Prang was an American printer, lithographer, publisher, and Georgist. He is sometimes known as the "father of the American Christmas card". Prang was born in Breslau in Prussian Silesia. His father Jonas Louis Prang was a textile manufacturer and of French Huguenot origin; his mother, Rosina Silverman, was German. In 1864, Prang went to Europe to learn about cutting-edge German lithography. Returning the next year, Prang began to create high quality reproductions of major art works. Prang also began creating series of popular album cards, advertised to be collected into scrapbooks, showing natural scenes and patriotic symbols. At Christmas 1873, Prang began creating greeting cards for the popular market in England and began selling the Christmas card in America in 1874. Prang is also known for his efforts to improve art education in the US, publishing instructional books and creating a foundation to train art teachers.
Artworks by this artist (217 total)
- The Sistine Madonna 1875
- Chestnut. Castanea vulgaris, var. Americana 1885
- Right or left 1890
- Wild fruit 1869
- Bobolink or Rice-bird. Dolichonyx oryzivora. 1. Male in summer. 2. Male in winter. 3. Female 1874
- Baby in trouble 1869
- Bird with autumn foliage 1873
- Flowers of memory 1870
- Dessert no. 7 1872
- Domestic pig 1874
- Gray squirrel, Northern gray, Sciurus migratorius 1872
- Playing mother 1869
- Prize golden Hamburg grapes 1897
- Rocky Mountain goat. Aplocerus montanus 1874
- To my valentine. Love may come and love may go 1882
- Prang’s aids for object teaching. Baker 1874
- Prang’s floral mottoes, no. 45. ‘He giveth his beloved sleep’ 1879
- 1. Jumping mouse. 2. White footed mouse. 3. Meadow mouse. 4. Brown rat 1874
- Great horned owl. Bubo virginianus bon 1874
- Asiatic elephant – Elephas indicus cuv 1874