Zincography

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Zincography a type of Chromotypograph is a relief printing process that uses zinc plates. It was a precursor of photography, and various Fin de Siécle French newspapers, such as Le Rire, used zincographic processes for their illustrations. The process was attractive to both printers and publishers as a competitive challenge to color lithography which relied on stone plates which were cumbersome and more expensive as compared to zinc plates which could be wrapped around a cylinder press enabling increased output.

Various artists, for example, Paul Gauguin, applied the process to artistic creation

The process is also called gillotage after Firmin Gillot (Brou 1820-Paris 1872), who patented the process of “zincography” on March 21,1850. To honor the significance of this inventor, the former Rue de la Grotte in Paris was named after Firmin Gillot in 1951 by Pierre de Gaulle.

e.g. Paul Gauguin, Breton Women at the Gate (Bretonnes a la Barrierre), 1889, zincograph on yellow wove paper, 21.3 x 26.3 cm, Minneapolis Institute of Arts

[edit] Process

Zincography is done by etching zinc plates with strong acids like hydrochloric acid, possibly with a stencil

The common name used for this process was “Gillotage” or “Paniconography”. This new system made it possible to engrave any type of drawing, text included, on a zinc plate by use of a fatty ink. An acid was then added to the parts not covered by ink. The resulting zinc relief could be used almost infinitely.

This was the genesis of photo-gravure, and later, photography