Contributions to the 6th AICCM Book, Paper & Photographic Materials Symposium. 17-19th November 2010, Melbourne. p95
Poster Abstract
Commonly described as the most ‘painterly’ of the printmaking techniques, the monotype has been enormously appealing to artists since its discovery in the 1640’s. Teetering on the boundary between painting and printmaking, the monotype has consequently been excluded from exhibition and display due to the ambiguity of its classification. Following a printmaking template reproducing images from one surface to another using pigment and pressure, the immediacy and directness of the approach and the resulting marks made are undeniably more akin to painting. Unlike other printmaking techniques, the monotype allows artists an unlimited amount of freedom and spontaneity in approach to imagery combined with an exciting element of chance and the added feature that no two works are alike. Drawing on examples from the Art Gallery of New South Wales collection, the poster takes a look at the unique characteristics of these ‘printed paintings’ and examines the three main processes associated with the technique including:
Light Field Method (additive)
Dark Field Method (subtractive)
Direct Drawing Method (trace & transfer)
Most importantly the poster examines the materials and techniques adopted by some of Australia’s most well known exponents of the technique including Rupert Bunny, Margaret Preston, Ludwig Hirschfeld Mack and Bruno Leti, and in turn provide information to aid conservators in the identification of these unique works.