Owl

Art Historical Context

This lithograph titled *Owl* was created by Hsiung Ping-Ming between 1901 and 1925. Printed in black, blue, and green, it belongs to the Rosenwald Collection at the National Gallery of Art and exemplifies early-20th-century printmaking. Lithography, a planographic process invented in the late 18th century, lets the artist draw directly on a stone or metal plate with greasy crayon; the surface is then chemically treated so that ink adheres only to the drawn areas. The resulting image can capture both fine linear detail and broad, painterly washes of color. The restricted palette of three color...