MONOTYPE
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 winch 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.
