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The prints in this exhibition demonstrate a variety of styles and techniques typical of the 19th century, as demonstrated in this new and exciting medium of the day. It contains very early examples of color lithography as well as black and white prints which have been hand-colored. It also contains two examples of early commercial adaptations of the process, chromolithographs, which were used by artists to reproduce paintings or watercolors for public distribution.

The term lithography comes from the Greek lithos, "stone," and grapho, "to write," thus meaning "to write on stone." The process of "chemical printing" (as the inventor called it) is just that – writing (drawing) on stone. Lithography was invented by Alois Senefelder in Austria in 1798 and patented as a printing medium in 1799. Originally devised by Senefelder as a process for printing theater scripts, it saw dramatic investigation and refinement in the early 19th century as both a commercial printing process and as a means for artists to print directly from their drawings to make limited edition prints.

In December, The University of Arizona Museum of Art will present a major exhibition, which will survey 20th-century lithography.