August Förster, German actor and theatre director 1863

This lithograph of August Förster, the German actor and theatre director, was created by Josef Kriehuber, sometime in the mid-19th century. Lithography is a printmaking process that relies on the simple principle that oil and water don’t mix. The artist would have drawn this image on a flat stone surface, using a greasy crayon. The stone is then treated with a chemical solution, so that the image attracts ink while the blank areas repel it. The image is then transferred to paper. In this case, the even tonality of the medium creates a soft, almost photographic realism. But the real significance of lithography is its reproducibility. Prints like this one helped to create and circulate celebrity, making stars like Förster recognizable to a broad public. That’s quite a contrast with earlier painted portraits, which were only available to the wealthy few. So, while this print may seem unassuming, it actually represents a major shift in the way images are produced, disseminated, and consumed, and has a direct connection to a modern world of mass media.