A monoprint is one of the freest and most painterly things you can do in printmaking. Where a woodcut or an etching is designed to print an edition of matching copies, a monoprint is the opposite: a one-of-a-kind image, a single unique print that is as much a painting or a drawing as it is a print. Artists often call it "1 of 1". Because the image is created with ink on a plate and pulled just once, no two monoprints are ever quite the same, and that element of chance and spontaneity is exactly the point.
Monoprint and monotype
The words monoprint and monotype are often used loosely, but there is a useful distinction. A monotype is made on a smooth, featureless plate, a sheet of glass, metal or acrylic with no permanent image on it. The artist inks or paints the image directly onto that blank plate and prints it once; nothing is left behind, so every monotype is truly unique, though a faint second "ghost" print can sometimes be pulled from the ink that remains. A monoprint instead starts from a matrix that does have a repeatable element, an etched plate, a carved block, a stencil or a texture, which is then inked or hand-coloured differently every time, so each print is unique while sharing an underlying image. In short: a monotype has no fixed image to repeat, while a monoprint varies one that does.
How a monoprint is made
- Roll or brush a thin layer of ink onto a smooth plate of glass, metal or acrylic, using a brayer.
- Create the image, either by drawing and wiping ink away (a subtractive, dark-field approach) or by painting ink on directly (an additive, light-field approach), or ink a matrix such as an etched plate or a stencil and work into it.
- Lay a sheet of paper gently over the plate.
- Transfer the image by rubbing the back of the paper by hand with a baren, or by running it through a press.
- Peel the paper back to reveal a unique print, and, if you like, pull a faint ghost print before re-inking for the next.
A painterly print
Monoprinting is often described as the most painterly form of printmaking, a true bridge between printmaking, painting and drawing, essentially a printed painting. There are no editions to match and few rules to follow, so it rewards experiment: layering colours, wiping back highlights, pressing in textures and embracing happy accidents. For anyone who loves to draw or paint, it is the most immediate way into making prints, and a wonderful companion to the carved blocks of relief printing and the etched plates of intaglio.
A short history
The monotype is generally credited to the Italian painter Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, known as Il Grechetto, who made the first examples in the 1640s. For a long time it remained a curiosity, until the nineteenth century, when Edgar Degas embraced it with extraordinary invention, making several hundred monotypes. Artists from Camille Pissarro and Paul Gauguin to Henri Matisse have used it since, drawn by its freedom and its painterly surface. You can read more about the printmakers who shaped these methods.
Trying monoprint at home
Monoprinting is one of the easiest ways to start making prints, because you need almost nothing: a smooth surface to ink, some ink, a roller and paper. Roll out a thin film of ink, draw into it with a cotton bud or the end of a brush, lay paper on top and burnish the back with a baren, and that is a monotype. From there you can combine it with a linocut block for unique, hand-coloured prints, step up to printmaking presses, and follow our step-by-step guide for beginners. The glossary explains any other term you meet.