Heer Uriaans reis om de wereld 1828 - 1937

Oehmigke & Riemschnieder made this print, Heer Uriaans reis om de wereld, using what appears to be lithography, a process which allows for the relatively quick reproduction of an image. The technique involves drawing on a flat stone or metal plate with a greasy crayon, then treating the surface so that ink adheres only to the drawn areas. It is interesting to note that printmaking, like photography, is so often excluded from the fine arts, even though both depend on the manual skill and vision of an artist. The lithographic process was adopted for a wide array of commercial purposes, like these colorful cartoon narratives, but it also became an important mode of artmaking. Think, for example, of Honoré Daumier’s social satires, which depended on the medium's capacity to reach a broad audience. Ultimately, this print asks us to reconsider the value we place on artistic skill, especially when applied to ostensibly ‘low’ purposes, like popular illustration.