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lithographer

/lɪˈθɒgrəfər/
IPA guide

Other forms: lithographers

A lithographer is a person who makes prints from designs created on flat stone or metal plates.

A lithographer creates a design on a flat surface, which was traditionally limestone, but could also be metal. The design is applied using a greasy medium, like an oil-based crayon or ink. The surface is treated with chemicals so that when a roller of ink is passed over it, the ink adheres to the design only, not the blank parts. A piece of paper is pressed onto the inked surface to make a print. This printing process is called lithography, from the Greek words lithos, "stone," and graphos, "something drawn or written."

Definitions of lithographer
  1. noun
    someone who makes prints from a stone or metal plate
    see moresee less
    examples:
    Nathaniel Currier
    United States lithographer who (with his partner James Ives) produced thousands of prints signed `Currier & Ives' (1813-1888)
    Honore Daumier
    French painter best known for his satirical lithographs of bourgeois society (1808-1879)
    James Merritt Ives
    United States lithographer who (with his partner Nathaniel Currier) produced thousands of prints signed `Currier & Ives' (1824-1895)
    Alois Senefelder
    German printer who invented lithography (1771-1834)
    type of:
    graphic artist, printmaker
    an artist who designs and makes prints
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