Schooners, clippers, sloops and paddle steamers crowd New York’s East River in the 1849 lithograph “View of New York from Brooklyn Heights” by Frances Flora Bond Palmer. People stand on the shores of Brooklyn Heights looking across the water at the burgeoning city of Manhattan and enjoy the clear weather and bustling scene.
At the time, the East River was a center for trade, commerce and recreation. Ships brought in cargo, immigrants and visitors. Before the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883, ferries were the only form of transportation across the river. Time spent on the water was an integral part of life for people in this part of New York state.
Illustrations and lithographs like those created by Palmer captured real-time events around New York City at the end of the Civil War and the peak of the Industrial Revolution. It wasn’t unusual for private businesses to commission works from artists to document news and elements of popular culture. One such business was the prolific printmaking firm Currier and Ives, which included this piece and other works by Palmer in its collection.
Palmer was born in Leicester, England, in 1812. There she studied at Miss Linwood’s School for Young Ladies. In 1841 she moved to New York City with her husband, Edmund Seymour Palmer, and soon found work as an illustrator. Her work was mainly of American landscapes and panoramas. Palmer eventually became one of the most celebrated artists for Currier and Ives, producing more than 200 lithographs for the company. Yet her work was not very well-known in the art world. “In the mid to late 19th century, women artists were not recognized,” says Martina Caruso, director of collections at the South Street Seaport Museum in New York City. “So, she died mostly obscurely.”
Today, 12 of her works are owned by the South Street Seaport Museum in the South Street Seaport Historic District of Manhattan. This lithograph is featured in its permanent exhibition, “South Street and the Rise of New York.” When looked at together, Palmer’s work creates a beautiful timeline of life in 19th-century New York. —Lidia Goldberg
This article was originally published in the December 2022 issue.
