Page "Lithography" Paragraph 28

During the first years of the 19th century, lithography had only a limited effect on printmaking, mainly because technical difficulties remained to be overcome.

Germany was the main center of production in this period.

Godefroy Engelmann, who moved his press from Mulhouse to Paris in 1816, largely succeeded in resolving the technical problems, and during the 1820s lithography was adopted by artists such as Delacroix and Géricault.

London also became a center, and some of Géricault's prints were in fact produced there.

Goya in Bordeaux produced his last series of prints by lithography — The Bulls of Bordeaux of 1828.

By the mid-century the initial enthusiasm had somewhat diminished in both countries, although the use of lithography was increasingly favored for commercial applications, which included the great prints of Daumier, published in newspapers.

Rodolphe Bresdin and Jean-François Millet also continued to practice the medium in France, and Adolf Menzel in Germany.

In 1862 the publisher Cadart tried to initiate a portfolio of lithographs by various artists which was not successful, but included several superb prints by Manet.

The revival began during the 1870s, especially in France with artists such as Odilon Redon, Henri Fantin-Latour and Degas producing much of their work in this manner.

The need for strictly limited editions to maintain the price had now been realized, and the medium become more accepted.