Manual extraction and dressing of litho stones

During the recent AEPM annual conference at the Dutch Lithography Museum last November, the lithographic artist Li Portenlänger stopped the show with an extraordinary film showing the manual extraction and finishing of stones at the famous Solnhofen quarries in Germany where the finest litho stone has been quarried since Aloys Senefelder first invented his process. The film, now available on YouTube, was made by Hubert Schonger sometime before 1940.

The film is a bit slow to start – it was made in more leisurely times, before YouTube – but it is well worth the wait!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeRfspn67j8

(With the permission of periscopefilm.com)