Biography:

The German-born artist, lithographer, and painter Louis Maurer is believed to be responsible for the most well-known political cartoons published by the printing firm of Currier and Ives during the Civil War era, although these images rarely bore his name. Maurer was born in Biebrich, in the Rhineland, in 1832 and studied art and lithography in Mainz. He migrated to the Unites States with his family in 1851 and began working for the lithographic firm of T. W. Strong before being hired by Currier and Ives in 1852. He worked for Currier and Ives for eight years, during which time he became the firm’s foremost artist of political cartoons. He moved on to the firm of Major and Knapp before establishing his own firm, Maurer and Heppenheimer, in 1872. He was successful enough to retire in 1884, at the age of 52, and devote himself painting. At the time of his death in New York in 1932—at age 100—Maurer was the last surviving member of the Currier and Ives staff and the oldest living American artist.