Description:
James Knox Polk (1795-1849) was the 11th President of the United States. Polk was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He later lived in and represented Tennessee. His presidental term lasted from March 4, 1845 – March 4, 1849. James S. Baillie began in the late 1830s as a picture framer in New York City. Trained as an artist, he later worked as a colorist for Nathaniel Currier, before setting up his own business sometime about 1843-44. For about the next decade he issued a wide variety of popular lithographs, mostly small folio images of the type published by his former employers. Nathaniel Currier had great success with a series of print portraits of the Presidents of the United States. These prints became popular as lithography was introduced to 19th Century Americans. As a new art form, it was affordable for the masses and provided a means to share visual information by crossing the barriers of race, class and language. Framed print portrait of James K. Polk, Polk is seated in a blue upholstered chair and his arm rests on a desk covered with papers and green baize fabric, Polk is dressed in a black suit and white shirt, in the background is a pink damsk swag drapery with yellow fringe, printed below the image is "Lith. & Pub. by J. Baillie 118 Nassau St N.Y./ & by J. Sowle New Bedford Mass./ JAMES K. POLK./ Eleventh President of the United States."
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2015.36.39 |
