Art Articles & Reviews

} Lithographic methods Printmaking Series - Part 4 of 21 By Nik Semenoff Since its' invention in 1798 by Alois Senefelder, lithography has replaced most of the commercial printing methods practiced all over the world. Relying on unseen chemical reactions, the printing surface is made to selectively reject either water or greasy ink. All this takes place on the same level surface and is referred to a planographic printing. While the commercial printing industry has pushed the knowledge and limits of the process, artists basically use the same methods developed in the 19th Century in France and Germany. In North America, aluminium plates textured to produce a fine grain have mainly replaced the large limestone slabs that started lithography. Essential the same materials are used on metal and stone to produce and print the image. The artist starts by drawing on the clean surface with special greasy materials. These can be crayon-like or a colored emulsion of grease and water. A chemical reaction takes place between the grease particles and the surface as the area will now reject water. To make the surface permanently in the same configuration, the entire surface is treated with an acidified gum Arabic solution so that it will reject greasy ink as long as the surface is damp. This all takes place within the few molecules on the surface of the plate or stone. With care, the delicate balance of ink and water will allow many copies to be printed from the substrate. L. Prout The printer first wets the substrate with a dampened cellulose sponge - this leaves a thin film of water all over the surface except for the greasy inked image. Then a roller charged with ink is quickly passed over the image area until it takes its full allotment of ink. More water may be applied as required by the plate and image. A piece of archival paper is now placed on the plate or stone, next a sheet of packing paper over it - then a tympan made of plastic or other suitable material. The press bed is moved to a position under a leather cover scraper bar, which is lowered unto the greased top surface of the tympan. Under heavy pressure, the "sandwich" is wrenched through the press as the ink is transferred to the paper. The pressure is released and the press bed returned to the start position. Everything is lifted from the plate as the print is inspected for quality and put aside to dry. The process is repeated for each print in the edition. Nik Semenoff Over the last two centuries, many techniques have been developed by the master practitioners of the craft. These have been handed down to fine art printers who collaborate with working artists unacquainted with this extremely technical process. Until the 70's, lithography as a fine art print media was not practiced to any extent in North America, but it has gained in stature as more dedicated printers learned the flexibility of lithography and opened print shops. Nik Semenoff Today the use of photographic methods are a common way of getting images unto the plate and the computer has been drawn in as an easier way to control the picture. While fine art printers use simple transfer presses with the plate and paper coming into direct contact, some have acquired cast off but good offset proofing presses to print editions. The use of an offset press does not condemn the print as not being original, as long as the artist has worked on the plates and watched over the quality of the piece. Only when a completed painting is handed over to an production house for four color separations and printing, is the edition nothing more than a reproduction. Nik Semenoff Because of the complexity of the lithographic process, it is not practiced as much as intaglio or screen printing. It takes years of study and experience to produce the best possible lithographic prints, which contain everything from the most delicate tints to the mass tone solid colors required by some artists. ________________________________________________ Copyright © 2004 Nik Semenoff Nik Semenoff Artist-in-residence University of Saskatchewan Visit Nik Semenoff's website at duke.usask.ca/~semenoff/ for more information.