Chromolithography

This article is about the print-making method. For the molithography is used to reproduce photographs, the
Felipe Alfau novel, see Felipe Alfau.
term photochrome is frequently used. Lithographers
Chromolithography is a method for making multi- sought to nd a way to print on at surfaces with the use
of chemicals instead of relief or intaglio printing.[2]
Chromolithography became the most successful of several methods of colour printing developed by the 19th
century; other methods were developed by printers such
as Jacob Christoph Le Blon, George Baxter and Edmund
Evans, and mostly relied on using several woodblocks
with the colours. Hand-colouring also remained important; elements of the ocial British Ordnance Survey
maps were coloured by hand by boys until 1875. The
initial technique involved the use of multiple lithographic
stones, one for each colour, and was still extremely expensive when done for the best quality results. Depending on
the number of colours present, a chromolithograph could
take months to produce, by very skilled workers. However much cheaper prints could be produced by simplifying both the number of colours used, and the renement
of the detail in the image. Cheaper images, like advertisements, relied heavily on an initial black print (not always a
lithograph), on which colours were then overprinted. To
make an expensive reproduction print as what was once
referred to as a chromo, a lithographer, with a nished
painting in front of him, gradually created and corrected
the many stones using proofs to look as much as possible
like the painting in front of him, sometimes using dozens
of layers.[3]

1 Process
The process of chromolithography is chemical, because
an image is applied to a stone or zinc plate with a greasebased crayon. (Limestone and zinc are two commonly
used materials in the production of chromolithographs.)
After the image is drawn onto stone, the stone is gummed
with gum arabic solution and weak nitric acid, and then
inked with oil-based paints and passed through a printing
press along with a sheet of paper to transfer the image to
the paper. Colours may be added to the print by drawing
the area to receive the colour on a dierent stone, and
printing the new colour onto the paper. Each colour in the
image must be separately drawn onto a new stone or plate
and applied to the paper one at a time. It was not unusual
for twenty to twenty-ve stones to be used on a single
image.[4] Each sheet of paper will therefore pass through
the printing press as many times as there are colours in
the nal print. In order that each colour is placed in the

Folding Card, The Old Woman Who Lived in A Shoe, 6 April

1883.

colour prints. This type of colour printing stemmed

from the process of lithography, and it includes all types
of lithography that are printed in colour.[1] When chro1

5 FAMOUS PRINTERS

right position in each print, each stone or plate must be

precisely registered, or lined up, on the paper using a
system of register marks.[2]

Origins

1872 chromolithograph of roadside inn, published in Maryland

three months to draw colours onto the stones and another ve months to print a thousand copies. Chromolithographs became so popular in American culture
Uncle Sam Supplying the World with Berry Brothers Hard Oil that the era has been labeled as chromo civilization.[9]
Finish, c. 1880. This cheaply produced chromolithographic ad- Over time, during the Victorian era, chromolithographs
vertisement employs a technique called stippling, with heavy re- populated childrens and ne arts publications, as well as
liance on the initial black line print.
advertising art, in trade cards, labels, and posters. They
were also once used for advertisements, popular prints,
Alois Senefelder, the inventor of lithography, introduced
and medical or scientic books.[10]
the subject of colored lithography in his 1818 Vollstaendiges Lehrbuch der Steindruckerey (A Complete Course of
Lithography), where he told of his plans to print using
colour and explained the colours he wished to be able to 4 Opposition to chromolithograprint someday.[5] Although Senefelder recorded plans for
phy
chromolithography, printers in other countries, such as
France and England, were also trying to nd a new way
to print in colour. Godefroy Engelmann of Mulhouse in Even though chromolithographs served many uses within
France was awarded a patent on chromolithography in society at the time, many were opposed to the idea of
July 1837,[5] but there are disputes over whether chro- them because of their lack of authenticity. The new forms
molithography was already in use before this date, as of art were sometimes tagged as bad art because of
[8]
some sources say, pointing to areas of printing such as their deceptive qualities. Some also felt that it could not
[5]
serve
as
a
form
of
art
at
all since it was too mechanical,
the production of playing cards.
and that the true spirit of a painter could never be captured in a printed version of a work.[8] Over time, chromos were made so cheaply that they could no longer be
3 Arrival in America
confused with original paintings. Since production costs
were low, the fabrication of chromolithographs became
The rst American chromolithographa portrait of more a business than the creation of art.
Reverend F. W. P. Greenwoodwas created by William
Sharp in 1840.[6] Many of the chromolithographs were
created and purchased in urban areas. The paintings were
5 Famous printers
initially used as decoration in American parlours as well
as for decoration within middle-class homes. They were
prominent after the Civil War because of their low pro- 5.1 Louis Prang
duction costs and ability to be mass-produced, and because the methods allowed pictures to look more like A famous lithographer and publisher who strongly suphand-painted oil paintings.[7] Production costs were only ported the production of chromolithographs was Louis
low if the chromolithographs were cheaply produced, Prang. Prang was a German-born entrepreneur who
but top-quality chromos were costly to produce because printed the rst American Christmas card.[11] He felt
of the necessary months of work and the thousands of that chromolithographs could look just as good as, if
dollars worth of equipment that had to be used.[8] Al- not better than, real paintings, and he published wellthough chromos could be mass-produced, it took about known chromolithographs based on popular paintings, in-

3
cluding one by Eastman Johnson entitled The Barefoot
Boy.[8] The reason Prang decided to take on the challenge of producing chromolithographs, despite criticisms,
was because he felt quality art should not be limited to
the elite.[11] Prang and others who continued to produce
chromolithographs were sometimes looked down upon
because of the fear that chromolithographs could undermine human abilities. With the Industrial Revolution
already under way, this fear was not something new to
Americans at the time. Many artists themselves anticipated the lack of desire for original artwork since many
became accustomed to chromolithographs.[8] As a way to
make more sales, some artists had a few paintings made
into chromolithographs so that people in society would at
least be familiar with the painter. Once people in society were familiar with the artist, they were more likely to
want to pay for an original work.[8]

5.2

Square, was named after his two sons Michael and

Nicholas. Artists like Joseph Wolf, Joseph Smit, J G
Keulemans and others worked for him to produce natural history illustrations that were used in the Ibis (18591874), Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London
(1848-1900) and a range of books. The company wound
up in 1902 after the death of Nicholas Hanhart and the
rise of new printing techniques.[14]

6 Uses

Lothar Meggendorfer

German chromolithographers, largely based in Bavaria,

came to dominate the trade with their low-cost highvolume productions. Of these printers, Lothar Meggendorfer garnered international fame for his childrens educational books and games. Owing to political unrest in
mid-19th-century Germany, many Bavarian printers emigrated to the United Kingdom and the United States,
and Germanys monopoly on chromolithographic printing dissipated.

5.3

August Hoen

A. Hoen & Co., led by German immigrant August Hoen,

were a prominent lithography house now known primarily for its stunning E.T. Paull sheet music covers. They
also made advertisements, maps, and cigar box art. Hoen
and his brothers Henry and Ernest took over the E. We- Love or Duty, a chromolithograph by Gabriele Castagnola,
ber Company in the mid-1850s upon Edward Webers 1873
death. August Hoens son Alfred ran the rm from 1886
throughout the early 20th century.[12]
Chromolithographs are mainly used today as ne art instead of advertisements, and they are hard to nd because
of poor preservation and cheaper form of printing re5.4 Rufus Bliss
placed it. Many chromolithographs have deteriorated because of the acidic frames surrounding them.[15] As stated
Rufus Bliss founded R. Bliss Mfg. Co., which was located
earlier, production costs of chromolithographs were low,
in Pawtucket, Rhode Island from 1832 to 1914. The
but eorts were still being made to nd a cheaper way
Bliss company is best known for their highly sought after
to mass-produce colored prints. Although purchasing a
paper litho on wood dollhouses. They also made many
chromolithograph may have been cheaper than purchasother lithoed toys, including boats, trains, and building
ing a painting, it was still expensive in comparison to
[13]
blocks.
other colour printing methods which were later developed. Oset printing replaced chromolithography in the
late 1930s.

5.5

M. & N. Hanhart

To nd or purchase a lithograph, some suggest searchEstablished in Mulhouse in 1830 by Michael Hanhart ing for examples with the original frame as well as the
who initially worked with Godefroy Engelmann in Lon- publishers stamp.[16] Both European and American chrodon. The rm, established at Charlotte Street, Fitzroy molithographs can still be found, and can range in cost

11

from hundreds to thousands of dollars. The least expensive chromos tend to be European or produced by publishers who are less well-known compared to Prang.[16]

Lithography

Main article: Lithography

Lithography is a form of planographic printing, meaning that the surface is at, in contrast to relief printing
(using a raised surface) or intaglio printing (using an incised surface). The earliest lithographic prints were produced using Bavarian limestones from the Solenhofen
quarry, where Senefelder himself had acquired his surface material. In order to create coloured lithographic
prints, printers made a series of impressions from different stones, each impression in register. The earliest
chromolithographs relied on distinctive deposits of colour
(side-by-side printing). Rapidly, printers enhanced
their palettes by overprinting colours. Stippling, intermingling dots of colour much as the pointillist painters
did, supplied a third mode of early chromolithographic
printing that relied on optical colour mixing. The use
of lightweight zinc sheetsa process that came to be
called zincography eventually replaced the heavier and
more expensive limestones. Oset printing superseded
chromolithography around the 1930s, yet stone and metal
plate lithography continue to be used by artists in the production of ne arts posters and limited edition prints.

Bibliography
Twyman, Michael. A History of Chromolithography: Printed Colour for All. The British Library/Oak Knoll Press, 2013.
Friedman, Joan M. Colour Printing in England,
1486-1859. Yale Center for British Art, 1978.
Henker, Michael. Von Senefelder zu Daumier: Die
Anfange der Lithograpischen Kunst. K.G. Saur,
1988.
Jay, Robert. The Trade Card in Nineteenth-Century
America. University of Missouri Press, 1987.

REFERENCES

9 Further reading
Friedman, Joan M. Colour Printing in England,
1486-1870: an Exhibition, Yale Center for British
Art. New Haven: The Center, 1978.
Hunter, Mel. The New Lithography: A Complete
Guide for Artists and Printers in the Use of Modern Translucent Materials for the Creation of HandDrawn Original Fine-Art Lithographic Prints. New
York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1984.
Marzio, Peter C. Lithography as Democratic Art:
A Reappraisal. Leonardo 3(1971):37-48.

10 See also
Planography
Photochrom
Color printing
Zincography
History of graphic design
Lithography

11 References
[1] Planographic Printing. Seeing is Believing. 2001. The
New York Public Library. 11 April 2007 <http://seeing.
nypl.org/planographic.html>.
[2] Chromolithography and the Posters of World War
I. The War on the Walls. Temple University. 11
April 2007 <http://exhibitions.library.temple.edu/ww1/
chromo_essay.htm>.
[3] Clapper, Michael. I Was Once a Barefoot Boy!: Cultural Tensions in a Popular Chromo. American Art
16(2002): 16-39.
[4] Chromolithography. Beautiful Birds Exhibit.1999. Cornell University Library. 11 April 2007 <http://rmc.
library.cornell.edu/ornithology/exhibit/exhibit5.htm>.
[5] Ferry, Kathryn. Printing the Alhambra: Owen Jones
and Chromolithography. Architectural History 46(2003):
175188.
[6] Meggs, Philip B. A History of Graphic Design. 1998
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. p 147 ISBN 0-471-29198-6

Last, Jay T. The Colour Explosion: NineteenthCentury American Lithography. Hillcrest Press,
2005.

[7] Ganey, Dennis. Chromolithography: Bringing Color

to the Masses. Antiques Roadshow. 2006. WGBH. 11
April 2007 <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/roadshow/
tips/chromolithography/>.

Marzio, Peter C. The Democratic Art : Pictures for

a 19th-century America : Chromolithography, 18401900. D. R. Godine, 1979.

[8] Clapper, Michael. I Was Once a Barefoot Boy!:

Cultural Tensions in a Popular Chromo. American Art
16(2002): 16-39.

[9] Glanz, Dawn. The Democratic Art: Pictures for a

Nineteenth-Century America, Chromolithography 18401900 (Review). Winterthur Portfolio 16(1981): 96-97.
[10] Planographic Printing. Seeing is Believing.2001. The
New York Public Library. 11 April 2007 <http://seeing.
nypl.org/planographic.html>.
[11] Stankiewicz, Mary Ann. A Picture Age: Reproductions
in Picture Study. Studies in Art Education 26(1985): 8692.
[12] A. Hoen & Company. Perfessorbill.com. 1956-05-01.
Retrieved 2011-10-12.
[13] Bliss Fire House & Pumper, ca. 1900 | Roadshow
Archive. PBS. Retrieved 2011-10-12.
[14] Jackson, CE (1999). M. & N. Hanhart: printers of natural history plates, 1830-1903. Archives of Natural History 26 (2): 287292. doi:10.3366/anh.1999.26.2.287.
[15] Peters, Connie and Greg Peters. True and Company:
I Can See You Papa. The Art of Print.True and Company. 11 April 2007 <http://www.artoftheprint.com/
artistpages/true_and_company_icanseeyoupapa.htm>.
[16] Antiques Roadshow: Chromolithography: Bringing
Color to the Masses, Ganey, Dennis. 2006. WGBH.
11 April 2007.

12

External links

The Chromolithograph: A Journal of Arts, Literature, Decoration and the Accomplishments

Examples of the Liebigs Company trade cards
New York Public Library page on printing, includes
an example in which 38 progressive proof prints are
made with 19 stones to produce the nal print.
Temple University Libraries discussion and World
War I poster examples.
University of South Florida Tampa Library Special
Collections maintains the Noel Wisdom Collection
of Chromolithographic Prints.
Chromolithography: The Art of Color from The
Philadelphia Print Shop
Collection of Chromolithographic Prints of Edinburgh, Scotland, 1897

13

13
13.1

TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

Text

Chromolithography Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromolithography?oldid=611352668 Contributors: Frecklefoot, Shyamal,

Komap, Julesd, Charles Matthews, Lambda, Fredrik, Altenmann, Macrakis, MistToys, Roisterer, CALR, Rich Farmbrough, Art LaPella,
Longhair, Pearle, Mduvekot, LFaraone, Axeman89, Tabletop, Rjwilmsi, FayssalF, RussBot, Gaius Cornelius, Dysmorodrepanis~enwiki,
Engineer Bob, Chase me ladies, I'm the Cavalry, BorgQueen, SmackBot, Flux.books, Durova, Chris the speller, Zeddy, Curly Turkey, MusicMaker5376, Eliyak, Writtenonsand, Gordonov, Richard Douglas, Trialsanderrors, Wspencer11, Adam Keller, Oosoom, Rieman 82,
Colin Keigher, Hawkmc, BehnamFarid, MER-C, Plantsurfer, GurchBot, VoABot II, Albert180307, Johnbod, VolkovBot, Artaxerex, Eubulides, Weetjesman, UnknownStory, SieBot, Phe-bot, Parhamr, LSpinks, Kelerin, Xavierlle09, Sfan00 IMG, ClueBot, MasterVerbosity,
Ost316, Addbot, CarsracBot, Tassedethe, Victoriaearle, LilHelpa, Douglas W. Jones, JesperZedlitz, M2545, Eppigramm, Container guy
257, RjwilmsiBot, EmausBot, EleferenBot, ZroBot, Bilbo571, ClueBot NG, Helpful Pixie Bot, Khazar2, Blueherw, WilliamDigiCol and
Anonymous: 26

13.2

Images

File:Chodowiecki_Basedow_Tafel_21_c_Z.jpg Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Chodowiecki_
Basedow_Tafel_21_c_Z.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: DANIEL CHODOWIECKI 62 bisher unverentlichte Handzeichnungen
zu dem Elementarwerk von Johann Bernhard Basedow. Mit einem Vorworte von Max von Boehn. Voigtlnder-Tetzner, Frankfurt am
Main 1922. (self scanned from book) Original artist: Daniel Chodowiecki
File:Love_or_dutyb.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Love_or_dutyb.jpg License: Public domain
Contributors: CALL NUMBER: PGA - Caldwell & Co.--Love or duty (D size) [P&P] Original artist: Castagnola, Gabriel, 1828-1883,
artist.
File:OldWomanWho-Open.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/OldWomanWho-Open.JPG License:
Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Roadside-inn-American-scenery.jpeg
Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/
Roadside-inn-American-scenery.jpeg License: Public domain Contributors: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division,
LC-DIG-pga-03254 (digital le from original print), uncompressed archival TIFF version (149 MiB), color level (pick white point),
cropped, and converted to JPEG (quality level 88) with the GIMP 2.6.1 Original artist: E. Sachse & Co., publisher, No. 5 N. Liberty St.
Artist is unknown.
File:Uncle_Sam_Supplying_the_World_with_Berry_Brothers_Hard_Oil_Finish.jpg Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/
wikipedia/en/0/07/Uncle_Sam_Supplying_the_World_with_Berry_Brothers_Hard_Oil_Finish.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:
? Original artist: ?

13.3

Content license

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