Laundry to Lithography?
‘Hope is a Thing with Feathers’ – 9” x 12” Lithographic print by Siobhan Arnott.
Doing a lot of laundry lately? Perhaps you are on the cusp of an invention? The playwright Alois Senefelder (1771-1834) is said to have discovered lithography accidently when his mother asked him to write down a list of laundry and, having no paper handy, he wrote it on a block of limestone with ink. A playwright, he was interested in finding a way to reproduce multiple versions of his plays cheaply. So, he decided to try and etch and print the stone with no success. He decided to wash the stone with soap and water and then tried to ink it once again. That is when he found that the areas of the stone with no writing remained damp and clear because of the antipathy of water to the greasy ink on the roller while the greasy writing attracted the ink.
Lithography is unique as it is the one technique in which both the image and the non-image are both on the same surface as it relies on a chemical reaction and the principle that grease and water resist each other. One of the most ‘autobiographical of all the print techniques,’ it can ‘capture the freshly drawn stroke of a pencil or brush with its characteristics intact’ as you may see in my artwork ‘Hope is a Thing with Feathers.’ Given this attribute and the fact artists could produce their own prints without having the intermediary, the engraver, lithography originally was used for fine arts prints and to illustrate popular magazines and even newspapers and widely adopted not only in Germany, but throughout Europe and even the United States. By the nineteenth century, lithography had the impact of ensuring inexpensive prints could be found in the houses of all members of the public, no matter what their status in society.
Artists known for their lithographic prints include Francisco Goya, Théodore Gericault, Eugene Delacroix, and Henri-Toulouse Lautrec. However, one of the biggest proponents of lithography was Honoré Daumier (1808-1879), who would become known for his ‘biting caricatures and social commentary in print form.’ He moved from Marseille to Paris where he published his first lithography in 1829 at age 21 in the weekly satirical magazine La Silhouette. Then, after the 1830 revolution in Paris, he began supplying pictures to an anti-monarchist, pro-republican magazine, and an equally partisan daily newspaper, specifically Le Charivari, the first daily newspaper illustrated with lithographs. His 1834 lithograph ‘Rue Transnonain, Le 15 Avril 1834’ called attention to a tragic event in which the government responded to an incident by killing an innocent family. This was one of many prints sold to raise monies for his paper’s legal defence fund and to further freedom of the press.
If you are intrigued by lithography and wish to learn more about this technique, I recommend you watch a video by either the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) or by the National Museums Liverpool. You may also read more about the history and technique of lithography in my favourite reference book, ‘The Complete Printmaker.’
Intrigued by this unique form of printmaking? Have questions about it? Please send me a message through my contact page!
Top Row: Limestone blocks sanded and levelled; lithographic crayons and tusche for drawing and painting images; potential mark-making; and my drawing on the prepared limestone surface.
Bottom Row: Preparing the stone with rosin and talc; a stone on the lithographic press awaiting a second etch; inking of the image with lithographic ink; and my resulting prints of ‘Hope is a Thing with Feathers’ (yet to be editioned and signed).