The collection of lithographs and posters which we have the honour to present in this site is the work of a team of European artists very different in style and artistic vision. Limited edition lithographs are by definition not inexhaustible ; howeyer, every year Editions Andre Roussard publishes new posters and lithographs, catalogues and books. For information concerning the latest editions or those out of print, please contact us.


TECHNICS

Such is the current confusion and even abuse of the term « lithograph », we feel it instructive to include a few words of explanation about this art. Invented in 1789 in Bavaria by Alois Senefelder, lithography has occasionally been considered the poor cousin of etching and engraving. The recent tendency to categorise all printed work as « lithography » has blurred the important differences between the media, and led to unjust dismissal of its unique creative potential.

The technique of lithography is based on the antipathy of water and grease. Working from a model image, perhaps in oil or gouache, or from an unrealised idea, the artist draws with a lithographic pencil and ink into a prepared stone or zinc plate. (Alternatively he may draw into a special transparent sheet from which the image is then « transferred » to the plate). This drawing, although in black and white, will represent a single colour in the final print. It is fixed to the plate by chemical treatment. The plate is wetted and an ink applied by a roller. This ink adheres to the greasy drawn marks but is repelled by the rest of the wet plate. A sheet of rag paper applied to the plate in a press will receive the colour image. This process is repeated on a fresh plate for each colour passage, the artist taking great care that each additional layer of colour is correctly positioned within the overall design.

In the final printing, the various colour plates build up the image on a pre-specified print run of anything from 100 to 250 sheets of fine quality paper. These sheets, are subsequently examined by the artist, numbered individually and signed. A small number are retained for the artist’s use and identified as such with numbering in Roman numerals. The plates or stones used for the printing are then effaced or destroyed, ensuring that a limited edition of say 150 remains just that.

A lithograph, therefore, is something between an individual work of art and mechanical reproduction in unlimited numbers. In the sense that the artist is able, at any moment in the process, to profit from fortuitous accident or to move away from the strict copying of his original model, a lithograph is very much an original work of art. Its price puts it within the range of a far wider public than most oils or even watercolours.

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The lithographs in this site are all printed on finest Arches paper unless otherwise specified. They are drawn from the press at the best Paris studios. Dimensions are given height followed by width. In ordering please quote the particular print's reference number. Each order is sent unframed and is accompanied by a certifîcate of authenticity.