How Do You Determine The Value Of Lithographs?
A lithograph is a print made by an artist on a press. Some lithographs are produced by machines today with photographic processes, but the original lithograph was made by drawing on a stone and printing from that same stone. Since the particular kind of stone may be hard to come by, some artists use the same process on a special lithographic plate made of metal. Know how a lithograph is made. A true lithograph is created from a drawing made directly onto a stone or a treated metal plate. The artist draws on the stone or plate with a grease pencil or crayon, which is then is treated with fat or oil mixed with gum arabic, which will cause the lines drawn on the stone to attract the greasy printer’s ink and the areas not drawn on to repel it. Then the stone or plate is treated with a turpentine or solvent that removes the drawing. But a “ghost” image of the drawing has been bonded by the first treatment to the plate or stone. It is dampened with water, and only the blank areas can absorb
