steintrykk

Steintrykk, commonly called lithography in English, is a planographic printing technique that uses a flat stone surface as the printing matrix. The method relies on the chemical principle that grease and water repel each other: a drawing made with a greasy medium on the stone accepts ink, while the surrounding wet areas repel it.

In practice the stone, usually a fine-grained limestone, is prepared to create a smooth, uniform surface. The artist draws the image with a grease-based crayon or tusche. The drawing is then chemically fixed and treated so that the ink-catching areas remain greasy while the rest of the surface is kept wet. When the stone is moistened with water and rolled with ink, the oil-based ink adheres to the greasy drawing and is repelled by the wet areas. Paper is pressed against the stone in a printing press to transfer the image. Color lithography is achieved by using multiple stones or plates, each carrying a separate color.

History and usage: Lithography was invented around 1796 by Alois Senefelder in Bavaria. It enabled relatively inexpensive reproduction of drawings and text and quickly spread across Europe and the Americas. It became a dominant method for art prints, posters, and maps in the 19th century. In the 20th century, offset lithography largely supplanted direct stone printing in commercial production, though stone lithography remains important in fine-art printmaking and limited editions.

Materials and terminology: Traditional Steintrykk relies on limestone as the printing surface; modern practice often uses metal plates in the broader lithography family. In Norwegian sources, Steintrykk is frequently used to refer to lithographic prints, especially historical or artisanal works.