The History of Printmaking: Senefelder Receives the Secrets of Lithography (large plate)
Warrington Colescott, The History of Printmaking: Senefelder Receives the Secrets of Lithography (large plate), 1976, soft-ground etching and aquatint, with vibrograver, printed in color on cream Arches paper, Museum Purchase: Caroline Ladd Pratt Fund, © Warrington Colescott, 80.47.1e
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- Title
The History of Printmaking: Senefelder Receives the Secrets of Lithography (large plate)
- Related Titles
display title: My German Trip: At Nürenburg the Master Was Expecting Me . . .
display title: The History of Printmaking: Senefelder Receives the Secrets of Lithography
original language: The History of Printmaking: Senefelder is Given the Secrets of Lithography
series (original language): The History of Printmaking
- Artist
- Date
1976
- Medium
soft-ground etching and aquatint, with vibrograver, printed in color on cream Arches paper
- Edition
20/75
- Catalogue Raisonné
Chapin 215
- Dimensions (H x W x D)
plate: 24 7/8 in x 27 5/8 in; sheet: 25 in x 35 3/4 in
- Inscriptions & Markings
watermark: Arches France, watermark, lower left
signature: Warrington Colescott, graphite, lower right
title: History of Printmaking: Senefelder receiveds the secrets of lithography, graphite, lower center
edition: 20/75, graphite, lower left
- Collection Area
Graphic Arts
- Category
Prints
- Object Type
intaglio print
- Culture
American
- Credit Line
Museum Purchase: Caroline Ladd Pratt Fund
- Accession Number
80.47.1e
- Copyright
© Warrington Colescott
- Terms
Alois Senefelder invented lithography in Munich in the 1790s, but Colescott locates its genesis in a primordial forest straight out of Wagner. Here, the artist depicts Senefelder in concert with devilish creatures, Valkyries, and a fierce Teutonic god who hurls a thunderbolt and proclaims "Grease Repels Water." Every creature has a secret to share: the wonder of rosin, tusche, and photoresist, among them. A heart inscribed "June Wayne" (the founder of Tamarind Lithography Workshop, pictured in another sheet from The History of Printmaking) is the only modern addition to this deeply mysterious atmosphere, suitable for "that greasy and repellant medium," in Colescott's words.
- Exhibitions
2013 In the Studio: Reflections on Artistic Life Portland Art Museum
