The Industrial Age

Photography
Iconic photographs from 1830-1900





Painting
The Impressionist movement was partially due to a new invention: the
photograph. Centuries painters had worked to master techniques for the most
realistic results possible therefore with cameras and photographs capable of
producing exact replicas of an image, painters gained even more freedom.
Artists were no longer the only means of recording an image and could choose
to focus on something in their art besides realistic replication. Impressionist artists
were influenced by the invention of the camera, because it gave them a
cropped composition. It also showed the tonal effects of light and dark in much
finer detail; making it easier for artists to capture the tone in their compositions.
The 3 major fine art movements in the 19
th
Century were Impressionism,
Romanticism and Neoclassicism.
Graphic Art packaging and Layouts 1800s
Printing
Lithography or litho printing is a relatively young form of printing as
compared to screen printing and others methods. The process was
discovered by Alois Senefelder in 1799 and ultimately changed the face
of the printing industry. Senefelder is also recognized with the discovery of
the transfer process. Through trial and error he realized that he could
transfer illustrations and scripts from paper onto the lithographic stone to
create the printing image. This discovery gave birth to ability to copy as
well as the redundancy of reverse imaging.

It was only around the mid 1800s that Litho color printing was discovered
and the art of litho printing became even more popular towards the late
eighteenth century when the first rotary lithographic press was invented.
This allowed for the mass production of prints similar to that of letterpress
printing but unfortunately the abrasive action of the rotary machine
made the images on the stone plates wear off too soon and the rotary
lithographic presses never really became popular.

Lithography however got
another boost in1855 with the
advent of Photolithography.
Again, difficulties in the
creating of the lithographic
plates resulted in this printing
technique becoming
dormant. But the wait was not
too long and by the late
1800s the lithographic offset
press was invented which
ultimately resulted in
lithography really taking off
and more interest taken in this
printing technique.

This brings us to present day
where limestone plates have
been replaced by metal
plates for the stencils and
three roller offset presses
introduced. Lithographic
printing or lithography has
come a long way from its
point of origin and has further
been refined by MNI printer's
processes to deliver large
quantity and high quality prints
and really affordably rates.