Original Printmaking

 

Lithography is a type of Original Printmaking. A print is an artwork made by transferring ink from one surface onto another- usually onto paper. The artist creates an image on the surface and transfers the image in ink by placing paper onto this surface and putting it through a printing press. The print process is capable of producing multiples of the same image. Each print that is pulled from the press in this way is called an 'impression'. The artist decides how many impressions they would like from one image and the total amount of these makes the 'edition'. The artist then signs and numbers each impression.

 

An Original Print is not a reproduction of another work, painting, print or anything else. It is a work of art in its own right. Although there are many of the same image in an edition, each print is an individual part of the whole, the whole being the edition. An original print is actually one piece of a multiple original work of art.