Description of Monoprint or Monotype

These monoprints are single images, one of a kind, painted by hand with permanent etching inks on a metal plate and preserved by laying a piece of wet 100% cotton rag paper over the image then cranking it through the heavy steel rollers of an etching press. The press utilizes hundreds of pounds of pressure to fuse the ink with the paper, creating effects of light and darkness unique to the medium. A shadow or “ghost” image remains on the plate, and often the artist will go back to the faint ink left on the plate and work back into it. This thin layer often is a beautiful, soft silvery image that gives more texture to a new image in a series.

Monoprint is different from etching and lithography in that in these mediums images are permanently etched with acid on a plate or drawn on a stone which then can produce multiple, identical images. In series, monoprints may be of one subject and related but none are identical. Both etching and lithography produce “editions” of identical prints. A finite number are made. Often, if they can afford it, artists produce a plate or stone and have an expert printer transfer image to paper, as this is a skill in itself.  Artists usually not only apply ink or paint to the plate but also print monoprints themselves as this adds to the unique quality of each print.

Monoprint has been around for a long time. Initially it was a fast, sketch medium for etchers and painters. Degas used it most effectively to work through ideas he had about the figure and landscape. In early days, these images were not sold, and often were produced on scrap paper which did not preserve well. Sometimes they were produced using oil paint and rubbing on the back of the paper with hands or a spoon or using a rolling pin to transfer the paint to the paper, a technique that was less precise than the use of a press.  In the mid 20th century it was still possible to purchase monoprints by noted artists for far less than their paintings, even though they were original, unique images.

Now the medium is well recognized; Nathan Oliveira and Richard Diebenkorn were two artists who famously popularized it in the 1970s. Oliveira’s technique of layering colors over each other on a single print was an important development in the use of high quality etching inks in monoprint. And Diebenkorn’s slices of pie and iconic San Francisco street depictions may be familiar to you. Many painters enjoy the technique’s flexibility and fluidity; the speed at which these images can be produced make it very effective for series work developing an idea in multiple prints.

-Laura Clark