Illusions: The Art in Lithography

By: David Ben, guest co-curator, Illusions: The Art of Magic

While we hold our breath—and hope for the opportunity to see Illusions: The Art of Magic—anticipating an artful escape from the undeniable and real danger that has paralyzed the world, I’ll try and divert your attention, as per the magician’s trade, with some observations about a few of the posters inside the exhibition.

Let’s start with Adelaide Herrmann, Queen of Magic. The poster created in 1903 by Strobridge & Co. Ltd., incorporates an Art Nouveau design, influenced by William Morris. It also depicts a parasol and fan, motifs that were associated with the popular western interest in all things Japanese. These motifs were also incorporated in works by  French master, Claude Monet, and Canada’s own James Wilson Morrice. This poster is the only known copy. 

Another image that reflects the Morris influence in America is Germain The Wizard, printed around 1908. While the materialization of the spirit is similar in tone to the apparition of ghosts in spirit photographs that were all the rage in the latter half of the 19th century, the lettering in the Germain poster is clearly influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement. Ohio, Germain’s native state, was an epicenter at the time for this artistic styling. The Arts and Craft Movement had a great impact on Canadian artists, especially on J.E.H. McDonald and, of course, on Tom Thomson, as depicted in The West Wind.

The influence of Fauvism and Expressionism are evident in the poster of Alois Kassner, Der Mann in der Kanne, circa 1920. The palette provides a psychological, rather than representational, dimension to the image, reflecting the work of such Expressionists as Wassily Kandinsky. It also reminds me of one of my favourite paintings in the AGO Collection, Portrait of Dr. Heinrich Stadelmann, painted two years later by Otto Dix.

Finally, Comedians de Mephisto Co. Allied with Le Roy-Talma-Bosco—which is actually eight separate pieces of paper—encapsulates all that I love about magic lithographs and the printing process. 

To create these works [Lithography, from the Greek for "stone printing," is an intricate printmaking process that revolves around grease and water resisting one another], each colour seen in a single poster was “pulled” from a separate stone then layered one on top of the other to create the final image. This process made coordinating pulls or “registration” an issue. The difficulty was compounded with larger works, particularly when the image had text. Every letter had to be reversed on the stone in order for it to appear in the correct orientation once pulled from the press. The Comedians de Mephisto Co  poster also illustrates how every profession has its own tricks of the trade, and also how some of the greatest works are, in fact, collaborative efforts in problem solving. 

So, whether you were one of the unknown artists who created the initial rendering that enabled your collective to replicate the same image on separate stones with exactitude, or if you were a famous artist like Jean Paul Riopelle using lithographic techniques in your series Feuilles, the devil—who is so often depicted in these magic images—is, as they say, in the details. 

With any luck, you will once again have the opportunity to see these works, and their many devilish details, before they disappear.