Explaining Lithography
As an alternate art method to drawing, painting, engraving and photography, I will discuss the origin of lithography and share the artists who incorporated this into their oeuvre.
Invented in Germany in 1796 by the Bavarian playwright Alois Senefelder, lithography is the method of first applying lines to textured limestone, using an oil-based crayon or ink.
Next, the stone is rubbed with a powder rosin, then a layer of powdered talc. Gum arabic is brushed on to insure only the incised areas absorb the ink.
The original drawing is wiped away with a solvent, leaving only a trace of the drawing.
A tar-like substance is buffed onto the surface and left to dry. Water is applied to the entire stone, then oil-based ink is applied, which will adhere only to the greasy incised areas, not to the blank spaces.
Paper is put down, and the printing process begins.
Lithography was first used to reproduce engravings and etchings, then used commercially to reproduce unlimited quantities.
French artists Edgar Degas and Camille Pissarro produced work in lithography.
Photography was invented in 1839, causing some artists to reject realism and embrace abstraction.
Edgar Degas, Pierre Bonnard, and Eduard Vuillard all photographed their family and friends.
Godfroy Englemann and his son Jean patented chromolithographie, ushering in the 'golden age' of color lithography in the 1890s.
Poster art became vogue with the use of 3-7 colors, spurring on private collectors.
Examples are Paul Gauguin's "Manao Tupapau" (1892), Pierre Bonnard's "Family Scene" (1892) from the collector's series "L'Estampe Originale" (published in 1893 + 1895), distributed in wrappers designed by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec et al.
French painter and lithographer Theodore Gericault exhibited "The Raft of the Medusa" in England in 1820. He made a litho reproduction of the painting for distribution to visitors, accompanied by a booklet describing the actual harrowing event.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec created "The Englishman at the Moulin Rouge" (1892), oil and gouache on cardboard. In the same year he used the complex process of color lithography, with the same title, in a second (final) state.
Frenchman Edouard Manet painted "Berthe Morisot with a Bunch of Violets" (1872), oil on canvas.
Manet produced a black and white lithograph of the sitter, "Portrait of Berthe Morisot" (1872-1874) in a looser style.
Invented in Germany in 1796 by the Bavarian playwright Alois Senefelder, lithography is the method of first applying lines to textured limestone, using an oil-based crayon or ink.
Next, the stone is rubbed with a powder rosin, then a layer of powdered talc. Gum arabic is brushed on to insure only the incised areas absorb the ink.
The original drawing is wiped away with a solvent, leaving only a trace of the drawing.
A tar-like substance is buffed onto the surface and left to dry. Water is applied to the entire stone, then oil-based ink is applied, which will adhere only to the greasy incised areas, not to the blank spaces.
Paper is put down, and the printing process begins.
Lithography was first used to reproduce engravings and etchings, then used commercially to reproduce unlimited quantities.
French artists Edgar Degas and Camille Pissarro produced work in lithography.
Photography was invented in 1839, causing some artists to reject realism and embrace abstraction.
Edgar Degas, Pierre Bonnard, and Eduard Vuillard all photographed their family and friends.
Godfroy Englemann and his son Jean patented chromolithographie, ushering in the 'golden age' of color lithography in the 1890s.
Poster art became vogue with the use of 3-7 colors, spurring on private collectors.
Examples are Paul Gauguin's "Manao Tupapau" (1892), Pierre Bonnard's "Family Scene" (1892) from the collector's series "L'Estampe Originale" (published in 1893 + 1895), distributed in wrappers designed by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec et al.
French painter and lithographer Theodore Gericault exhibited "The Raft of the Medusa" in England in 1820. He made a litho reproduction of the painting for distribution to visitors, accompanied by a booklet describing the actual harrowing event.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec created "The Englishman at the Moulin Rouge" (1892), oil and gouache on cardboard. In the same year he used the complex process of color lithography, with the same title, in a second (final) state.
Frenchman Edouard Manet painted "Berthe Morisot with a Bunch of Violets" (1872), oil on canvas.
Manet produced a black and white lithograph of the sitter, "Portrait of Berthe Morisot" (1872-1874) in a looser style.
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