Texas Lithographs

📖 The Scoop

"The printing technology known as lithography was born around 1800, just as Texas was entering a period of turmoil and growth. Until it was replaced by photography in the latter years of the 19th century it was the primary visual medium for representing scenes of the Lone Star State. In this book, Ron Tyler has compiled the most complete collection of lithographs depicting our state, to produce a kind of visual history of 19th-century Texas. Importantly, many of the images in this book were not produced in Texas, or by Texans; he includes many images produced by visitors that ended up in travel books-books that helped create the mythic reputation of the Lone Star State. Tyler is indebted to one 19th-century immigrant in particular: "Swen Jaensson, known as Swante Palm (1815-1899), a twenty-four-year-old Swede who immigrated to Texas in 1844, gathered a large collection of prints and travel books in his Austin home, and, in 1897, donated most of his 12,000 volumes to the University of Texas.... Gathered in his library, and in this study for the first time, is perhaps the most complete visual record of nineteenth-century Texas, the record of a nineteenth-century myth on the make." Tyler's book works through the material in chronological order, from the colonial era through the Texas revolution, Republic, Civil War, the growth of cattle ranching and the arrival of railroads. Since many of the lithographs were created or commissioned by outsiders, there is a tendency for more material to appear when Texas was in the news, or represented at World's Fairs and other expositions even when they did not take place in Texas. Texans interested in promoting their state or city were also responsible for many of these images, which turned a blind eye to atrocities in favor of "bold, positive, and often exaggerated interpretations-visions, really-of the reality that Texans hoped for.""--

Genre: Art / Prints (fancy, right?)