The Modern Lithographer (1940)

lithography means literally writing on Stone the artist may make his original drawing on the stone or may copy it on as he's doing here the lithographic stone is a fine Bavarian Limestone its surface prepared by special graining the artist uses greasy ink made of lamp black and tallow he puts on the broader masses with a brush and for finer work he uses pen or crayon pencil thus all parts intended to be reproduced with the exception of white are drawn on the stone with a greasy ink which repels water when the drawing is completed the lithographer places the stone upon a press and wets the surface thoroughly with water next he passes an ink roller over it the ink adheres to the greased parts of the drawing but the water keeps ink off the surface not drawn upon this part consequently will show White this is the principle of lithography a drawing of greasy ink a film of water then ink repelled by water but attracted by Grease ink that is lifted off when the paper is pressed against the surface the printer lays the paper carefully upon the Inked surface of the Stone next he passes the stone through under pressure from a bar above forcing the paper into close contact with the ink he removes the top pad and carefully pulls off the reproduction before he can make another copy the printer must give the stone another water and ink treatment within the last century interesting developments have appeared in the lithographic process in the first place original art subjects can now be transferred to thin metal plates thus eliminating the unwieldy Stone the surface of the metal plate is moistened as was the stone and also the ink roller is passed over charging all grease attracting parts of the metal as this printer takes off a modern lithographic proof we see an important intermediary step called offset here a large cylinder covered with rubber passes over the plate picks up the ink from it and carries it along on its next turn it transfers the ink from rubber to paper the yielding rubber surface allows fine clear brilliant or delicate tones to be transferred even on rough surfaces thus modern photo offset lithography makes possible authentic reproductions in quantity from Originals such as the treasure galleons Frank Vining Smith is painting copies by the thousands faithful and inexpensive art pieces furthermore photo offset lithography has wide application to Commercial Art it will be used to reproduce this study of foods the original of which these photographers are preparing to make for a nationwide selling campaign by way of recipe booklets in photo offset lithography the first step is photography In Color Work the photographer uses filters the image is focused on a ground glass plate each filter lets in all but one color of light now a sensitized glass plate is put in position for making a negative recording of one color occurring in the original one the plate is exposed according to a time chart and removed for developing and drying the emulsion different color filters are used to secure a number of negatives one for each color necessary to be lithographed to produce an authentic reproduction now other highly specialized artists take up the work of color correction of each plate to correct and supplement the work of the camera with the original at hand the color correction artist carefully studies the gradation of color values on the photographic plate the plate that represents one color of the original he strengthens or weakens the tone to achieve an end result that he knows will be faithful to the original this requires ability to translate color values in terms of Gray now from the full-tone plate representing each color another photographer makes screen negatives in order to obtain printing texture he prints through a fine screen to another sensitized glass plate the screen effect has been made on this huge glass on which fine black filled lines have been cut across at right angles the plate is fitted against this screen in the right position to obtain proper dot formation such a screen placed over solid masses and photographed breaks them up into isolated minute dots the developed screen negative is examined by the photographer to see that his exposure and subsequent development have rendered dot values that properly reproduce the artist's tone values these isolated Dots here shown magnified are necessary for Sharp impression solid tones would print smudgy and would prevent good reproduction of values next another plate maker photographs a proof plate on sensitized metal from each negative these will be used to prove that all work to this point has been correct each plate is chemically treated so that the minute dots will attract ink and will repel water when proofs of these test plates have been printed over each other a check is made by a supervising Craftsman to assure authentic reproduction now another plate making operator brings in a large sensitized plate on which he will make multiple prints he will photograph this glass negative for blue for example four times on the one large plate he will make the same number of prints of each other color negative on similar large plates with the individual glass negative and sensitized multiple plate in place in the Precision printer he makes the first exposure by repeating the subject on these big multiple plates many reproductions will be made simultaneously in the final printing on the color press after the first exposure Precision Machinery enables the operator to change accurately to the next position four of these large plates are used on a Four Color job and in this case the photographer is making four repetitions of the subject on each big plate extreme accuracy within one one thousandth of an inch is necessary now a second exposure is made when the big plates have received the full number of exposures they are developed as were the proof plates this man must have training in chemistry chemical treatment makes the part of the surface to be reproduced attractive to Ink but repellent to water modern mass production is evident in this huge photo offset Press Room making possible reproduction in terms of millions instead of dozens the Press men clamped the Press plates of our treasure galleons about a large cylinder on a huge rotary press four images on each metal plate separate plates to pick up ink for each color they carefully wrapped the rubber offset blankets about second cylinders on third cylinders below the paper as it is fed through will receive ink from the rubber ink fed the metal plates above transferred to rubber afterward to paper a huge press brings into action automatic feeding of paper is multiple plates ink and water rollers cylinders and paper make their contacts a metal plate transferred to rubber offset blanket from blanket printed to paper below over 3 000 Impressions per hour as the Press man keeps careful check to see that accurate registration and inking are maintained other workers will cut the big sheets apart and will Mount each picture separately faithful reproductions of Fine Art available to all through the skill of the modern lithographer the photo offset process too is the very live stream of modern Commercial Art the plates of the recipe book that go on another giant color press ink offset to rubber into paper thousands of copies per hour each an art piece in its own right the result of specialized skilled artists work coupled to the mass production of modern machines thus a million recipe booklets effectively presenting their messages to a million Housewives tempting uses for fruit flavors meat product displays in Nationwide sales efforts huge window displays from Tiny color photographs Billboards selling a city on elevated Transportation others stimulating service station business reminding one and all of the approach of a gay season this rich and versatile outgrowth of writing on Stone has contributed enormously to occupations for skilled Craftsmen to Modern business advance and has made available to all the works of the world's Master artists