The Democracy in Search of a Candidate
Medium
Lithograph
Dimensions
Image: 8 9/16 × 14 9/16 in. (21.8 × 37 cm) Sheet: 13 7/16 × 17 5/8 in. (34.2 × 44.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of A. S. Colgate, 1952
Accession Number
52.632.196
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
Created in 1868 by the renowned firm Currier & Ives, *The Democracy in Search of a Candidate* is a hand-colored lithograph that captures the turbulent politics of post-Civil War America. Measuring just over 8 by 14 inches in the image area, this print uses sharp satire to comment on the Democratic Party’s search for a presidential nominee during that year’s election. The tags referencing boats, coffins, birds, and numerous political figures suggest an allegorical scene filled with symbolic imagery typical of the era’s campaign cartoons. Lithography, the medium employed here, was revolutionary...
About the Artist
Isaiah Rynders|George Hunt Pendleton|Fernando Wood|Andrew Johnson|Currier & Ives|Joseph Brooks|John Cameron|Horatio Seymour|John Thompson Hoffman|Charles G. Halpine|Winfield Scott Hancock (American|American|American|American|American|American|American, born Scotland|American|American|American, Irish|American) · 1804 |1825 |1812 |1808 |1857 |1821 |1828 |1810 |1828 |1829 |1824 –1885 |1889 |1881 |1875 |1907 |1877 |1896 |1886 |1888 |1868 |1886
American, 1804–1885|American, 1825–1889|American, 1812–1881|American, 1808–1875|American, active New York, 1857–1907|American, Cincinnati, Ohio 1821–1877 Little Rock, Arkansas|American, born Scotland, ca. 1828–after 1896 New York|American, 1810–1886|American, Ossining, New York 1828–1888 Wiesbaden, Germany|American, Oldcastle, Ireland 1829–1868 New York|American, Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania 1824...