What does lithography mean?
Lithography is a printmaking and printing technique based on the different behavior of image and non-image areas on a flat surface. In the original process, an artist drew with a greasy medium on a limestone surface; chemically treated areas would then accept ink while the untreated areas repelled it. This allowed an image to be drawn directly onto the printing surface rather than first being cut in relief. Modern offset lithography uses photographic or digital methods to prepare a plate, which transfers the image to a rubber blanket and then to paper. The technique became especially important for reproducing posters, illustrations, maps, and mass-produced artwork. Although other technologies have replaced many traditional lithographic workflows, the word remains strongly associated with the distinctive history and visual character of nineteenth- and twentieth-century fine-art prints.
nounLithography is a printing process in which an image is drawn or transferred onto a flat stone or metal plate, with ink adhering to the image areas and repelled by the non-image areas. The term also refers to the broader art and craft of making prints by this method.
- A printing process that uses a flat stone or plate whose image and non-image areas accept and repel ink differently.
- The art or practice of producing prints through this process.
"The museum's exhibition includes posters made using offset lithography, as well as hand-pulled lithographic prints."
"The artist produced the illustration by lithography before transferring it to a larger printing run."
"Her early training in lithography taught her how to combine drawing directly with the making of prints."
The plural is used when referring to separate lithographic processes, techniques, or bodies of work.
"The exhibition brought together lithographies from several different presses."
Lithography made printing from a flat stone possible, turning a carefully prepared limestone surface into a reusable page for images.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does lithography come from?
Lithography was developed by Alois Senefelder in Munich in the late eighteenth century. Its name combines Greek lithos, meaning “stone,” with graphein, meaning “to write” or “to draw.” The term refers to the original process of printing from a prepared stone, while its later forms include the chemically treated plates used in offset lithography. Related English words such as lithic, lithology, and lithosphere likewise reflect the Greek element lithos, “stone.”
Related word forms
How lithography is actually used
The word is primarily associated with printmaking, publishing, and the production of posters, labels, maps, and reproductions. In modern commercial printing, the term often refers to offset lithography, although it can also describe older stone-based methods.
Easily confused with lithography
Lithography is the printing process, whereas a lithograph is an individual print produced by that process.