Monotype
Mary Sundstrom
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Jessica Krichels. Quipus and Stones 3. Monotype and Gravure. 8 x 8"
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Monotypes, described simply, are printed paintings or drawings. These unique works of art, executed in ink or oil paint, prior to transferring to paper via a printing press, record clearly the artist’s painterly and adventurous manipulations of pigment on a surface of metal or Plexiglas while creating an image. In terms of technique, the monotype is the simplest form of printmaking, requiring only pigments, a surface on which to apply them, paper and some form of press. Traditional forms of printmaking like woodcut, etching, engraving or lithography involve much more complex processes of physically or chemically cutting or fixing an image in wood, metal or stone so that it may be inked and printed repeatedly. Monotypes, as we are familiar with them, became relatively common late in the nineteenth century but the technical knowledge to create them has existed about as long as the intaglio process which dates from the fifteenth century. Although the means to create the monotype existed, the potential of its practice awaited the artists and artistic conditions necessary for it to emerge. The first known reference to the monotype was early in the nineteenth century.
Although certainly not the first artist to use the monotype, the greatest innovator and practitioner of the medium in the nineteenth century was Edgar Degas. Degas did more than any other artist to make the monotype an important and viable medium for artistic expression. In only a little over fifteen years of exploration of the medium, Degas created over four hundred and fifty monotypes. His perception and sense of experimentation gave to artists and the world insights into color, light and spontaneity unique to the monotype. Other qualities which make the monotype unique as a medium are its freed flexibility and organic spontaneity of application. These characteristics, blended with the special transparent nature of oil based inks or paint, that may be brushed, rolled, blotted, wiped and smeared into an artistic semblance, comes alive when transferred on to paper. Once the image is printed the potential for further enhancement exists through the addition of more detail and hand-coloring. The extent to which a printed image is altered, since it is a unique, is entirely up to artistic preference. Monotypes, because of their innate uniqueness as a printed painting of which there is only one, are an important addition to any fine art collection. -- Frank Howell
Although certainly not the first artist to use the monotype, the greatest innovator and practitioner of the medium in the nineteenth century was Edgar Degas. Degas did more than any other artist to make the monotype an important and viable medium for artistic expression. In only a little over fifteen years of exploration of the medium, Degas created over four hundred and fifty monotypes. His perception and sense of experimentation gave to artists and the world insights into color, light and spontaneity unique to the monotype. Other qualities which make the monotype unique as a medium are its freed flexibility and organic spontaneity of application. These characteristics, blended with the special transparent nature of oil based inks or paint, that may be brushed, rolled, blotted, wiped and smeared into an artistic semblance, comes alive when transferred on to paper. Once the image is printed the potential for further enhancement exists through the addition of more detail and hand-coloring. The extent to which a printed image is altered, since it is a unique, is entirely up to artistic preference. Monotypes, because of their innate uniqueness as a printed painting of which there is only one, are an important addition to any fine art collection. -- Frank Howell