Lithography in Art and Commerce

This final volume of Beatrice Farwell's multivolume text-fiche catalogue discusses how lithography, the revolutionary printing technology of the 19th century, came to be devoted more to commerce than to art. Farwell studies the many commercial applications of the versatile lithographic medium, showing how lithography was transformed from artisanal craft to industrial mass production. In exploring the connection between art and commerce, Farwell seeks to enrich our understanding of the relations between so-called "high" and "low" art in 19th-century France. The fiche accompanying the text features art reproductions, courses of instruction in drawing, examples of different lithographic techniques, and a section on the development of colour lithography.