Life on the Prairie: The Trappers Defence, "Fire Fight Fire"

Arthur F. Tait's lifelong interest in animals, hunting, and fishing harks back to his youth on a family farm in northwest England. Mainly self-taught as an artist, he learned to draw and paint by copying illustrated art manuals and reproducing lithographs. Although he had a few drawing and teaching jobs, the limited opportunities in his homeland prompted him to emigrate to the New York in 1850. Shortly thereafter, Tait became a leading painter of camp life, wild animals, hunting and fishing scenes --based on his annual summers in the Adirondack Mountains.

Although he never visited the American West, he was inspired by the art of George Catlin and Karl Bodmer, among others. In 1852, Tait collaborated with Louis Maurer on a lithograph series of western subjects for Nathaniel Currier, who eventually commissioned Tait alone to provide pictures of animals in rural and wilderness settings. The great popularity of these lithographs boosted Tait's reputation as an painter, leading to additional prints published by Currier & Ives, including this one, which capitalized on the public's appetite for images of rugged American frontier life, which was so different from what an East Coast city dweller experienced. In this dramatic scene accented by bright reds, large flames rage in the smoke-filled left background, while three men (two wearing red shirts) try to battle this disastrous threat to the prairie. At center, a man tries to calm a frightened horse rearing in between two tethered horses pulling at their reins. In the right foreground, two others (one dressed in a buckskin suit) crouch down to build a backfire as a way to control the wildfire. The men's gear (fur pelts and rifles) become a still life arrangement on the grass at the lower left. Barely visible through the smoke in the right background, a buffalo herd stampedes away from the oncoming flames. This print exemplifies Tait's skill in vividly rendering naturalistic detail and visual storytelling.

Nathaniel Currier, whose successful New York-based lithography firm began in 1835, produced more than 7,000 hand-colored prints in various sizes that together create a vivid panorama of mid-to-late nineteenth century American life and its history. People eagerly acquired such lithographs featuring picturesque scenery, rural and city views, ships, railroads, portraits, hunting and fishing scenes, domestic life and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments. As the firm expanded, Nathaniel included his younger brother Charles in the business. In 1857, James Merritt Ives (the firm's accountant since 1852 and Charles's brother-in-law) was made a business partner; subsequently renamed Currier & Ives, the firm continued until 1907.