Kiss me quick 1840

"Kiss me quick" was printed by Currier and Ives in the mid-nineteenth century in the United States. This hand-colored lithograph depicts a couple kissing while two young girls attempt to cover their eyes. The image creates meaning through its depiction of domesticity, social roles, and gender dynamics. In a rapidly changing society, Currier and Ives mass-produced prints like these offered a nostalgic view of traditional family values. But note the satirical touch in the text printed below the image. The children's comment is not one of innocent surprise, but of weary exasperation. To truly understand prints like these, we can look to archives, newspapers, and other publications of the time. We can discover what was considered proper and what was deemed transgressive. We start to recognize that the meaning of art is intertwined with the social and institutional context in which it was created and consumed.