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Kellogg & Buckeley published a series of lithographs on the fire. This extremely popular
medium, which allowed the inexpensive and relatively easy reproduction of images on a
large scale, was invented just before the turn of the nineteenth century and came into wide
use a few decades later. The artist draws on polished limestone (later zinc or aluminum
were also used) with a crayon or other greasy medium, which is then fixed with a special
solution. Since water and grease do not mix, when the stone is next washed in water and
then rolled with ink, the ink sticks only to the artist's markings, which can thus be
transferred to paper (and reversed in the process). Colored lithographs, or
chromolithographs, which involved a series of transfers with different colors of ink, were
available as early as the 1830s but were not in broad circulation until later in the second half
of the century. Other color lithographs, including the ones here, were made by
hand-painting black-and-white prints (the famous publisher Currier & Ives employed a whole
production line of women, each applying a different color). Many lithographs, like the ones
of the Chicago fire, were devoted to contemporary events and pastimes, but they were also
used to make copies of other "original" works of art and were extensively employed in
advertising. Between 1860 and 1880, the number of lithography companies in America
jumped from sixty to over 160, and then to about 700 a decade later.
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Arresting Images 