Lithographs

Between the wars Paris was the international centre of the art world, and by consequence printmaking flourished there for the majority of leading artists.  Studios devoted to making prints such as that of Mourlot were extremely influential and produced Lithographs and Etchings of a technical excellence that remains unsurpassed today.

Mourlots Lithographs were produced under the direction of the individual artist who produced the original plate and only in limited numbers.  Once the edition was complete the stones used were ground down making later editions impossible.

Original prints can only be described as such if the artist concerned has had some direct input in the process.  Anything which has been photographically printed can never be described as original.

Lithograph or Reproduction

In order to ascertain whether it is an authentic or an (offset lithograph ie a reproduction done by photo-mechanical process) a close examination will reveal a regular pattern of coloured dots similar to that of a coloured comic in a newspaper, this tells you it is not an authentic Lithograph.

Many of the Lithographs we have for sale were specially produced in de-luxe format periodicals in loose portfolio limited editions by the major artists of the time and usually on high-quality paper or best wove.

They were mostly published from (1940 until 1982) in France by the Gallery Maeght and printed by the Litho Masters, Studio Mourlot.

The intention was to give people the chance to buy affordable works of art by the leading names.

As to the value of prints, this can most often be determined by the importance of the artist, the rarity and obviously the quality and sharpness of image with no blemishes or flaws.