In a lithograph, (the name comes from the Greek word for stone 'litho'), the line that is to be printed is neither raised (as in a woodblock) nor lowered (as in an engraving) but is flat. Lithography owes it existence to the chemical principal that oil and water do not mix. The artist draws the image to be printed on a flat slab of limestone (usually Bavarian), metal, or plastic using a greasy crayon. The surface is then chemically fixed and wet with water, which does not adhere to the greasy image areas. When the surface is inked with a roller, ink adheres only to the greasy areas and not the wet area. Paper is then positioned over the plate and the press is manually operated to produce one impression. The process must be repeated for each color. It is not unusual for fine lithographs to be printed from 15 or more plates. The popularity of this process grew because exact replicas could be made that were like drawings on paper, without degradation of the image.
There are several techniques utilized to create graphics but one thing remains constant: they are all original works, handmade in a pre-determined edition size. Creating a lithograph is a slow, painstaking process. Each impression must be run through a hand-generated press once for each color. The plate must be inked and wiped each time and the registration must be perfect. Private collections and art museums worldwide pride themselves on their collections of original lithographs by both old masters and the contemporary printmakers.
Lithographs are in no sense copies or reproductions. A reproduction is made by photographing an original work such as an oil painting then printing it photomechanically using high speed commercial presses or computer printers. A reproduction is always inferior in quality to the original it copies and has virtually no investment value.
Original lithographs are created in limited editions. After each original is 'pulled' in whatever quantity the artist determined the blocks, stones (plates) are usually destroyed so they cannot be used again. Original Lithographs are often signed and numbered by the artist.
Lines are incised on a highly polished metal plate by means of a sharp-pointed instrument, diamond-shaped in cross section, called a burin or graver. The tool works like a plough cutting a furrow. The strength of the line may be increased by cutting deeper. The burin is held in a fixed position and, to produce a curved line, the plate itself is turned. This makes engraving a slow and painstaking technique producing controlled, formal results.
Lines are scratched into the metal plate using any sharp instrument with the same freedom as a pencil. The effect is spontaneous, not formal. Cutting into the plate throws up, on each side of the cut, ridges of displaced metal, which are called burr. In the printing of the plate, these ridges will also take some ink and print a kind of inky glow around the line.
Lines are bitten into the metal plate through the use of acid. To begin with, the plate is covered with a thin, acid-impervious coating called a ground which is smoked to a uniform black. Lines are drawn through the ground with a stylus baring the metal of the plate. Acid is then applied which eats into the exposed areas. The longer the plate is exposed to the acid, the deeper the bite and therefore the stronger the line. Different depths are achieved by covering some lines with acid-impervious varnish (stop-out) and biting others a second (or third) time. The appearance of etchings is usually free and spontaneous but the technique has occasionally been used to produce results almost as formal as engraving.
A technique of acid-biting areas of tone rather than lines. A ground is used that is not completely impervious to acid, and a pebbly or granular texture (broad or fine) is produced on the metal plate. Stop-out and second and third bitings are.used to produce variations of darkness.
The only intaglio technique that proceeds from dark to light rather than the opposite. The metal plate is totally abraded with an instrument called a rocker. Were it inked and printed at this point, it would produce an even, rich black. The design, in areas of tone rather than lines, is produced entirely by smoothing areas of the plate with a scraper or a burnishing tool. The more scraping and burnishing done, the lighter the area.
A process in which the impression is created by the uncarved areas or the unprepared surface of the printing element, which has been inked with a roller or other tool. The cut areas do not usually print since they are recessed and are rarely inked. However, during the process the paper is often pushed into these sunken areas creating an embossed effect.
In all relief techniques it is the surface of the block that is inked and printed and all lines or surfaces will be equally dark. Moderate pressure in the press will emboss the paper to an extent, so the inked design will lie slightly below the uninked surface of the paper.
The design is drawn on a wood plank and those areas that are not to print are cut away below the surface.
The design is divided among several blocks, each to print a different color, with or without overlaps. Those areas cut away in all blocks will not print at all and thus provide highlights of the natural color of the paper. The blocks must be carefully matched in placement of the design and the paper must pass through as many printings as there are blocks.
Tools similar to metal engraving are used on polished blocks of end-grain wood. However, instead of producing lines that will print, they are used to produce non-printing lines: It is the uncut surface that will take the ink and print.
The technique is a derivation of the woodcut but owing to the supple, relatively soft properties of the material. The material takes all types of lines, but is most suited to large designs with contrasting dark and light flat tints. The material is cut with small pen-like tools which have a variety of forms: straight and rounded edge, double-pointed, as a chisel or a V-shaped chisel, etc. As on a woodcut, the relief parts of the block are inked. For printing a large number of images the linoleum is attached to a wooden block. Color printing is done with several linoleum blocks. The linocut came into its own after artists like Picasso and Matisse began to work in that technique.
Used on glass as a medium for light-sensitive emulsions to make finely detailed negatives albumen positive prints are made on paper coated with eggwhite and salt solution and sensitized with silver nitrite solution. The print is made by exposure to sunlight through a negative.
Style of art characterized by repetitive, ornamental and highly finished, curvilinear and geometric designs (1920 -1930).
Also known as A/P. Prints outside the edition that are equal in quality to the edition and signed as Artist Proof or A/P. They are traditionally the property of the artist and usually limited to 10% of the edition.
A style of decoration and architecture emphasizing fluid, biomorphic lines and swirling motifs.
Also called BAT. A french term used for printer's meaning "good to print". Traditionally, this is the first good impression an artist approves for the master printer to use as the standard for the edition.
Using an uninked plate to produce the subtle embossed texture of a white-on-white image, highlighted by the shadow of the relief image on the uninked paper. This technique is used in many Japanese prints.
A mounted photographic print measuring about 4 1/2 inches by 2 1/2 inches popular in the late 19th century, usually as a portrait.
(ke-ar e skoor o) Technique of depicting light and dark tones to create an illusion of depth and modeling.
(sheen coal lay) Process of taking thin paper, like rice paper, dampened with water and glue, placed on another paper, then placed in the etching press, before the etching is done.
Also called dry stamp or seal. A mark impressed on a print by a workshop or a printer. Some artists and publishers also use their own chop to identify authentic prints.
A continuous tone reproduction with hand drawn touch colors, using both serigraphy and lithography.
"One who works with color". An artist craftsman who separates paintings or drawings into individual colors, used to print.
Emphasis on symmetry, proportion and harmony of line and form.
A print that uses a build-up of applied surfaces, such as glue, mat board, cloth, sand, etc. It is then inked by hand and printed on an intaglio press.
Also called photo gelatin print or heliotype, a reproduction process using gelatin-coated glass or metal plate that produces a continuous tone print.
Network of small cracks in painted or varnished surface of an old painting.
Invented in 1838, this was the first practical photographic process, in which an image is formed on a copper plate coated with highly polished silver. Following exposure, the image is developed in mercury vapor, resulting in a unique image on metal that cannot be used as a negative for replication.
The natural rough edge on a sheet of paper in hand made paper.
(Latin, delineavit) He(she) drew it. Generally inscribed next to the artist's signature.
(dip-tic) Two paneled altarpiece or painting.
A certificate that identifies techniques and materials used to produce an edition, as well as total number of prints plus proofs, signed by both printer and artist.
A high quality color photographic printing technique involving the transfer of dyes from three separately prepared images onto a single sheet of paper.
(French, epreuve d' artist) an artist's proof.
Painting done with pigment mixed with beeswax and blended with heat.
A peocess where a soft ground is laid on a copper or tin metal plate, and using a sharp etching tool, the artist draws through the ground, exposing the metal plate. The lines of exposed metal are then "bitten" in an acid bath. The strength of the acid and the length of time the plate is bathed determines the depth of the lines. After the ground is removed the artist inks the plate, making sure that the etched lines are filled with ink. The excess ink is wiped away, the plate placed, face up on the press and the paper face down. The pressure of the heavy rollers on the press is so great it leaves the impression of the plate on the paper and pushes the ink onto the surface.
(Latin, exudit) He(she) executed it. The meaning is synonymous with he(she) printed it.
Any, untrained, nonacademic or unschooled style of painting.
In reference to ink it means the pigment is not stable or will fade at a fast rate. Fugitive pigments are synthetic based and made of cheap components.
Style of glorifying modern technology, speed and the machine age, (Italy, early 20th Century).
A high-quality, black-and-white photographic printing technique in which a natural protein is used as a transparent medium to hold light-sensitive silver halide crystals in suspension, binding them to the printing paper or film, yet allowing penetration of processing solutions.
(zhan-re) Realistic depiction of scenes from everyday domestic life. Also, a type or class like a certain "genre" of painting.
Plaster of Paris used as white primer for painting surface, esp. canvas.
(Zhee-clay) Computer controlled, fine art print making process. Similar to the look of a serigraph but no screens are used. It uses a very fine spray of ink, 15 microns in size, about 4 times smaller than a human hair. The microscopic jet-stream is controlled by a crystal frequency. The print is then coated with up to 15 layers of waterproof U.V. varnishes.
Style emphasizing Christian imagery, brilliant color and strong verticality in composition.
(gwash) Opaque watercolor paint bound with gum.
Also known as HC prints. Prints, in addition to the edition number, given to the publisher for their use. These are used by sales people to show potential clients and are often sold by the publisher.
Thick application of paint that forms an opaque relief surface.
An art movement founded in France in the last 3rd of the 19th century. The artist's sought to break up light into its component colors and render its emphemeral play on various objects. The artist's vision was intensely centered on light and the way it transforms the visible world The short brush-strokes of bright color are chosen to represent light which is broken down into its spectrum components and re-combined by the eyes into another color when viewed at a distance.
(Latin, incidit) He(she) cut it or carved it. These abbreviations refer to the individuals who engraved the master plate.
Derived from the Italian, "cut in", or engrave. It stands for any or several print making methods -- engraving, etching, drypoint, aquatint, soft-ground etching or mezzotint. These all have this in common: The areas which print on the paper have been cut, scratched or chemically bitten.
(Latin, invenit). He(she) designed it. Generally inscribed next to the artist's signature.
A printer who has studied and practiced all processes, including serigraphy, lithography, intaglio and relief printing. Advanced techniques must be mastered in each process. Generally 100 editions must be produced to earn the title.
Style that breaks with traditional art forms and searches for new modes of expression (early 20th century).
Sometimes used interchangeably with monotype, a one-of-a-kind print made by painting or inking on a sheet of metal or glass and transferring the still wet painting to a sheet of paper by hand or with an etching press. If enough paint remains on the master plate, additional prints can be made, however, the reprint will have substantial variations from the original image. Monotype printing is not a multiple-replica process since each print is unique.
Style modeled after proportion and restraint of Greek and Roman classical antiquity (late 20th c.).
Combination of cartoon, graffiti and performance art in a minimalist, unsophisticated style. (Late 20th c.).
A special photo-mechanical technique in which the image to be printed is transferred to the negative plates and printed onto papers.
Op art Style with graphic abstraction and pattern-oriented optical effects (mid. 20th c).
One-of-a-kind print in which artist personally conceived the image, created the master plates, and executed the entire printing process.
Coloring matter mixed with a binder to form paint.
(Latin, pinxit) Painted by he artistst. Generally inscribed next to the artist's signature.
Neo-impressionism, employing tiny, closely spaced points of color that blend to produce a luminous quality. (France, late 19th c.).See artist, George Seurat.
Altarpiece or painting with 3 or more panels.
Style making use of images from popular culture and commerce, often reproduced exactly.
Style reflecting the exhaustion of modernist experimentation and a partial return to more traditional forms. (Late 20th c.)
Proof Prints outside the edition that are generally dedicated to an individual as a gift.
Also known as BAT. Prints outside the edition that are property of the master printer.
Prints outside the edition that show incomplete states of the edition.
Record of ownership for a work of art, ideally from the time it left the artist's studio to it's present location, thus creating an unbroken ownership history.
Typically a technique on a limited edition, where the artist adds verbage, drawings or sketches, to the Border around the image, increasing the value, because only a few are remarqued.
Pertaining to humanistic art that is classical in form and content-revival of aesthetics of classical antiquity (14th -17th c.).
An etching plate that is reworked and new editions pulled from new plate.
prints of the same image as the original edition but altered in some way (as a change in color, paper or printing process).
Basically a stencil or silkscreen process. Was given the name after WW1, by a noted art historian, Carl Zigrosser. It was established as an art form in the 1950's. A direct printing process, the image isn't reversed like in lithography. A screen of silk, nylon or wire mesh is tightly stretched across a frame. A design is made in stencil form on the mesh by blocking out portions. The remaining open areas will let the ink through to the paper below. Another method of stencil making; using tusche and glue, where the artist draws on the screen with tusche, then coats the entire area with a fast-drying glue. The tusche is dissolved and the hard glue forms the stencil. You could also use a series of acetate overlays. One overlay for each color. The artist draws the image on the overlay with a light-blocking substance. Then the printer exposes the image and the light passes through the acetate. This process called, "cutting" the screen leaves the stencil.
A process combining hand drawn lithography and serigraphy.
Technique used to depict hazy, smoky shadows.
Technique in which surface layer of paint is scratched through to reveal color underneath.
Invented in the late 1700's by Aloys Senfelder. The image is printed on a flat surface. The chemicals don't eat away at the plate like they do in etchings, they simply change the surface to accept or reject the ink. The artist draws directly on the plate or stone with a greasy pencil and after a chemical process will accept ink and repel water. Lines can be drawn thick or thin and at times it is hard to distinguish a lithograph from an actual drawing.
Style using subconscious mental activity as it's subject matter, characterized by dreamlike, hallucinatory imagery. (Early 20th c.) See artists: Miro, Dali, Magritte and Ernst.
(trip-tic) Three paneled altarpiece or painting.
(Trick of the Eye) A style of painting in which architectural details are rendered in extremely fine detail in order to create the illusion of tangible and spatial qualities. This form of painting was first used by the Romans, thousands of years ago in frescoes and murals.
