Portret van een onbekende man, mogelijk Couture 1897

Georges Montenez created this portrait of an unknown man using a lithographic crayon on paper. The beauty of lithography lies in its directness. The artist draws directly onto the stone or, in this case, paper with a greasy crayon, and the print captures every nuance of that original mark. Look closely, and you'll notice the grainy texture, a direct result of the crayon's material properties and the pressure applied by Montenez. This technique allows for a wide range of tonal variations, as the artist controls the density and pressure of the crayon. Lithography democratized art production in the 19th century, enabling the mass production of images. This portrait, though not mass-produced in the way commercial lithographs were, still participates in that expanded field of image-making, blurring the lines between fine art and commercial reproduction. It reminds us that even seemingly traditional art forms are deeply intertwined with broader social and economic shifts.