Printing on stone

Lithography

Lithography is a technique of printing on limestone. The image is drawn with a greasy crayon or ink, the stone is treated and dampened: water stays on the undrawn areas and the greasy ink sticks only to the drawing. There is no relief and no grooves.

It was invented by Alois Senefelder in Munich in the late 18th century. It reached Mexico in 1826 with the Italian Claudio Linati, and in the 19th century it became the favorite medium for portraits, landscapes, posters, labels and political caricature, like that of newspapers such as "La Orquesta".

It is printed on a lithographic press, which passes the stone under a scraper with great pressure.

At the MUNAG you can see lithographic stones, a lithographic star-wheel press and 19th-century lithographs: portraits of Comonfort and Lucas Alamán, political cartoons and advertising images.