John Bachmann

1814-1896

Swiss (Jersey City, New Jersey)

John Bachmann was a German-speaking Swiss printmaker and artist best known for his bird's-eye views, especially of New York City. Bachmann was a journeyman lithographer in Switzerland and Paris until 1847. His first known American print appeared in 1849; it is a view from an imagined point above Union Square in New York, looking south toward the Battery.

In 1850-1851, he published a series of bird's-eye views of American cities, including Boston, New York, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Washington, D.C. Bachmann married in about 1852, and had four children, the eldest of whom became a lithographer. Around 1860, the family moved to Hoboken New Jersey, and in 1864 settled in Jersey City Heights. Bachmann continued producing prints, the majority of which were views of New York and Central Park, until about 1885.

Bachmann's prints were among the first major bird's eye views, as opposed to panoramic views, in the United States. Although they appear to be captured from above, bird's eye views were actually mathematically compiled on a grid using hundreds of sketches done on the ground. Bachmann's skillful use of the bird's-eye view helped popularize it as a way of portraying modern urban geography, and launched a new genre of American printmaking.

John Bachmann

Objects

Bachmann, John 1814-1896

Birds Eye View of New York and Environs, 1865

1865