Practical Lithography

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PRACTICAL LITHOGRAPHY

ALOIS SENEFELDER. The Inventor of Lithography. Born 1781—Died 1834.



“Alois Senefelder never benefited much by his discovery of the elementary principles of lithography, but none of those to whom it has given profitable occupation will remember without some feeling the patient and persistent efforts of the struggling actor and dramatist who, only after the greatest sacrifices and hardships, laid the germ of this splendid development, and watched and guarded its growth.” There is one characteristic feature of the discovery of lithography for which Senefelder ought to receive the fullest credit. Unlike other discoveries of industrial and scientific value, there can be no doubt whatever as to its origin. Senefelder’s claim has never been disputed, yet “the payment of a debt of gratitude to the fact is easily overlooked when the wheel of history has made another turn.”
It has been again and again suggested that the blighting influences of Commercialism have robbed lithography of many of its traditional features and a few, at least, of its best and most artistic qualities as a reproductive art. This same commercial spirit, however, has inspired and encouraged a charming variety of effect both in colour and design, and lithography of to-day, in almost every form of its manifestation, is infinitely more attractive and capable of considerably more expressive power than could ever have been hoped for before commercial utility and value demanded a full recognition. Pleasing and harmonious effects, which are almost invariably sought after in lithography, need not be inartistic; and it is quite possible for the technique of the lithographic draughtsman to translate original work without a serious depreciation of its pictorial and artistic value.