May 2026 marks 185 years since the birth of Karel Klic, a pioneering inventor who put Lancaster on the printing map.
Originally from Bohemia, now the Czech Republic, Karel Klic settled in Lancaster for several years from the 1890s. There, along with the city’s Storey Brothers, he developed “Heliogravure”, better known as photogravure printing, and established the Rembrandt Intaglio Printing Company.
For a trial of the process, the subject chosen for this “historic etching” was a portrait of the then British prime minister, William Ewart Gladstone.
Now, Klic and his revolutionary process for reproducing high quality images which brought art to the masses, is being celebrated with a year-long project entitled Copy That, run by Lancashire-based arts and heritage charity, Mirador and funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
As part of events to mark Lancaster Day on Friday 12th June, Mirador will be giving a free talk about the project in The Sanctuary at Lancaster Library from 12.30pm.
The day will also see the launch of a new Klic Town Trail, a self-guided walk featuring places in Lancaster associated with the inventor, including the Meadowside home where he lived and the site of the Rembrandt Intaglio Printing Company.
The Copy That project has already got off to a flying start with the launch of a resource pack for schools and a series of workshops attracting people of all ages and backgrounds.
The first workshop at Morecambe Riso Press CIC was a sell-out, as are two cyanotype sessions at local libraries. Others, including Smartphone photography sessions with the East Meets West Refugee Women’s Group have been well supported too.
More workshops for schools and other groups are continuing throughout the spring and summer.
“We are very pleased that our project celebrating Karel Klic has started so well and are looking forward to sharing more of his story and other forthcoming events at our talk on Lancaster Day,” said Mirador co-founder and creative producer, George Harris.
The project will culminate with an exhibition at The Storey Gallery in November, a century since Klic’s death.
Mirador is a highly experienced Lancashire-based team that blends its expertise and know- how to originate, research, develop and deliver magical and inspiring projects which fuse arts and culture that connect people to their location, heritage and history.
Previous Mirador projects include Behind The Wall, Walking In Others Footsteps and Jukebox: The Teenage Revolution.
• For information and updates on Copy That – The Revolution in Photomechanical Printing, visit www.miradorarts.co.uk and follow Mirador on Twitter @Miradorarts and Facebook.com/pages/Mirador
Karel Václav Klíc
Karel Václav Klíc (30th May 1841 – 16th November 1926), sometimes written Karl Klietsch, was born at Arnau, Czech Republic in 1841. His father owned a photographic studio, where he is thought to have worked. He later went into printing, at first creating drawings and wood cuts for publication.
He started photo-chemical experiments for printing artwork in the 1870s and opened his own business, Photochemische Werkstaette, in Vienna, then, in 1878, invented a pioneering commercial photogravure printing process which he sold around Europe.
Around 1890, Karel came to England and sold his process to Storey Brothers and Co. Ltd., who were based at White Cross, Lancaster, makers of printed sheeting and coated fabrics, sail and cloth makers, who began the first commercial use of the process in 1893 at Queen’s Mill, under Karel Klic’s technical supervision. Storeys formed Rembrandt Intaglio Printing Company Ltd. in 1895, the first rotogravure firm, and Klic became a partner in this business.
At one time, before turning down Penny Street, there was an archway erected by the employees at White Cross, Moor Lane Mills, and Caton Mills, and of the Rembrandt Intaglio Printing Company and the Permanent Decorative Glass Company. An article in the Lancaster Standard and County Advertiser for 1904 notes the project had its origin in a suggestion of the employees themselves, and when it was first mentioned it was heartily taken up by all. The erection took the form of an early Norman gateway, flanked by smaller gateways,
By 1900 Rembrandt was producing gravure prints commercially and in large quantities. The firm enjoyed a de facto monopoly for several years.
Karel returned to Vienna in 1897, making frequent trips to the Rembrandt plant until World War One. In 1892, he painted a portrait of Sir Thomas Storey, of Storeys Brothers, the Lancaster industrialist and philanthropist, which can now be seen at Lancaster City Museum.