Silverpoint Drawings, Stone Lithographs on Display at Hingham Library

Western Massachusetts artist Sandra L. Burke’s silverpoint drawings and original stone lithographs will be displayed in the Clemens Gallery of the through August 2. The Clemens Gallery is open during regular library hours.

Silverpoint was used during the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance and was the precursor of the graphite pencil. Drawing with a silver stylus requires that the drawing surface first be coated with an applied ground. With the passage of time, the distinctive gray tones oxidize, imparting a soft gray-brown appearance to the delicate lines of the silverpoint drawing.

Silverpoint was for practical purposes rendered obsolete by the 18th century. There however has been a contemporary art revival among European artists and academies because the medium imposes considerable discipline in draughtsmanship. The drawings cannot be erased or altered once they are made.

Taken from the Greek lithos, “stone” and graphein, “to write”, lithography is the act of drawing on Bavarian Limestone with a mixture of black pigment and some form of grease, such as crayon, chemically treating the drawing, proofing it, and finally, by means of a specially constructed press, printing the image. The press allowed the artist to regulate and multiply the original visual statement.

-Hingham Library