Lithographs measuring 120 x 160 cm require a stone weighing about 600 kg. After printing, the stone is sanded to remove the ink that has entered the pores. The print run is stopped as soon as the finest details disappear. Printing from the stone is limited by the wear of the finest, most delicate areas, which is why some lithographs are printed in 25, 50 or 75 copies. Image via Five reasons to collect Joan Miró s lithographs: 1. Some artists, such as Marc Chagall, produced lithographs with 18 colors, while Pierre Bonnard, who loved using the process, declared that a successful lithograph should have no more than four colors. The stone is inked with an inking roller loaded with greasy ink, and only the greasy areas accept the ink from the roller, while the pores in the blank areas, soaked with water, repel the greasy ink. After a chemical treatment to stabilize the oil, the stone is dampened, the water penetrating the blank areas and being repelled from the areas covered with oil. The ink penetrates the pores of the stone. The artist draws on a stone with a wax crayon or greasy ink. Invented in the late 18th century by Senefelder, lithography is a planographic process based on the principle that oil and water repel each other. Lithography (from the Greek lithos: stone): For this process, the artist must work backwards.
