In this example of a monoprint—Arroyo,
6.5" x 8.75",
by Cora A. Smith—you can clearly see several useful points.
In the top enlargement, the arrows point to the indented edge,
an actual physical depression in the paper. This distinctive ridge
shows the entire edge of the printing plate itself, embossed into
the damp paper when it went through the press. You’ll see
this ridge on etchings and on monoprints done of etching-type,
press-run plates. (Monoprints can also be printed with just hand-applied
pressure, in which case you probably won’t see a ridge.)
As is standard, the print is signed in pencil,
with “25” referring here to the date, 1925. Monoprints
are either numbered “1/1” meaning “One from an
edition of one”, or are left unnumbered.
In the lower enlargement, you can see the texture of the ink and
the lack of clear line quality in the print. The over-all image
has a rather amorphous, soft-focus quality, similar to finger-painting,
as if dabbed on. Some of the texture comes from a suction-like
effect of pressing paper against wet ink and then pulling it away.
The artist might choose to immediately run the plate again with
another sheet of paper, but the resulting print will be much fainter
and therefore unique from the first. Since there are no permanent
etched lines to guide the artist’s hand, even if what remained
of this image was re-inked and reprinted it would inevitably vary
from the version seen here. Because of this ephemeral quality,
and the need to print quickly while the ink is still wet, monoprint/monotype
are uniquely spontaneous compared with the other types of printing.
Above: Enlargement of about 1" x 1.25" of the print.
Above: Enlargement of about 2" x 2.5" of the print.
