Archibald Hartrick was born in Bangalore, India, the son of an army officer. His mother brought him to Scotland in 1866, where he was educated in Edinburgh, studying medicine at the University. He later studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, London and in the late 1880s travelled to Paris and Pont-Aven becoming friendly with Gauguin, Van Gogh and Toulouse-Lautreuc. Lithography was his main medium and although his work showed delicate and sensitive draughtsmanship the results tended to be worthy rather than brilliant. He illustrated a number of books and wrote and published Lithography as a Fine Art in 1932.

Glossary

  • Lithography

    Lithography means, literally, stone drawing. In addition to fine grain lithographic stones, metal plates can also be used for lithography. The method relies on the fact that grease repels water. An image is drawn in a greasy medium onto the stone or plate, which is then dampened with water. Greasy printing ink rolled onto that surface will adhere to the design but be repelled by the damp area. The inked image is transferred to the paper via a press. For large editions, the grease is chemically fixed to the stone, and gum arabic, which repels any further grease marks but does not repel water, is applied to the rest of the surface. For colour lithography the artist uses a separate stone or plate for each colour required.

  • Medium

    Refers to either the material used to create a work of art, craft or design, i.e. oil, bronze, earthenware, silk; or the technique employed i.e. collage, etching, carving. In painting the medium refers to the binder for the pigment, e.g. oil, egg, acrylic dispersion. The plural form is media.

See in

  • Art Project