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1570
William Blake
William Blake an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, but now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. -
1580
Antoon Sallaert
Antoon Sallaert was an innovative Flemish baroque painter. draughtsman and printmaker, well known as the inventor of the monotype technique. He was born on 1580 in Brussels, Belgium. -
Hercules Sughers
Hercules Piertersz Seghers was a Dutch landscape painter and printmaker of the Dutch Golden Age, well known as “the most inspired, experimental and original landscapist” and highly innovative printmaker. He was born on 1589 in Haarlem, Netherlands. -
"A painter bowling before an emperor surrounded by an entourage" by Antoon Sallaert
In 1605-1658, Antoon Sallaert created his first monoprint called "A painter bowling before an emperor surrounded by an entourage". Antoon found freedom in the monotype technique and brushed bold, swelling lines and tampering ends onto the printing surface, adding white highlights by hand. -
"Landscape with overhanging fir" by Hercules Seghers
In 1615, Hercules Seghers created one of his earliest prints entitled "Landscape with overhanging fir". During his life, he was one of the earliest artists who experimented with a process similar to monoprinting in colour on unusual papers, with unusual horizontal format and adding accents by hand with different inks, which made him the most original and impressive artists in the history of printmaking. -
"Rachel Concealing Laban's Idols" by Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione
In 1625, Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione created his first prints called "Rachel Concealing Laban's Idols". During his life, he devised a new printmaking process called monoprinting and worked with black-field images by wiping away ink on a prepared plate to produce white and grey lines. However, the printmaking process unfortunately failed to become popular due to its limitation to one print and uncontrollable properties of ink when subjected to heavy pressures of a printing press. -
One of the earliest artists to use monoprinting was Giovanni Castiglione
In 1645, Giovanni Castiglione created etching and repreated some of the compositions in monoprint -a technique he was responsible for inventing - using copper etching plates. -
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New printmaking techniques evolved
Between the mid 1600's and 1800, new printmaking techniques evolved such as mezzotint, aquatint and lithography -
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No majorly important artists, except William Blake, made monotypes
Between 1660 and 1875, no majorly important artists, except William Blake, made monotypes. However, there were a few interior-quality monotypes made by unknown artists. -
The transfer printing process was developed
In 1756, John Sadler developed the transfer printing process, a process where a pattern or design is etched onto a copper plate.
It was then adopted by Josiah Wedgwood and used it on his ivory based "Creamware". -
William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, painter and printmaker, well known as a seminal figure in the history of poetry and visual artist of the Romantic Age. He was born 28 November 1757 in Soho, London, England. -
"Newton" by William Blake
In 1795, William Blake created his first monoprint called "Newton". Many years after Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, William Blake started experimenting with monoprints and became the most important artists of monoprinting. He experimented with oil and egg tempera on copperplate and pressing a damp piece of paper over the paint, retouching his prints by hand using ink and watercolour. -
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Monoprinting almost disappeared until the late 1860s.
After William Blake, the monoprinting process almost disappeared until young impressionists became interested in the creative use of inking of monoprinting. The printing experiments were influenced by photography with its black and white contrasts and interplay of positive and negative imagery. -
Camille Pissarro
Camille Pizarro was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter well known for his contributions to both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism and Post-Impressionism as well as his revelatory 'plein air' landscape pictures. -
Edgar Degas
Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas was a French sculptor, printmaker, draftsman and artist well known for his pastel drawings and oil paintings of ballerinas, his mastery of depicting movement, his psychologically complex portraits and portrayal of human isolation and for being one of the founders of Impressionism. He was born 19 July 1834 in Paris, France. -
Photographic monoprint process was invented
In 1840, William Henry Talbot invented the photographic process, which involved sensitizing a sheet of paper in a solution of sodium chloride and then coating the paper with silver nitrate. He the placed the piece of paper beneath a sheet of glass and exposed it to sunlight. -
Paul Gauguin
Eugene Henri Paul Gauguin was a controversial French post-impressionism and symbolism painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist and writer, well known for his experimental use of colour, synthetic and cloisonnist style and formal elements of emotion in his voyeuristic artworks and for paving the way to Primitivism. He was born 7 June 1848 in Paris, France. -
William Merritt Chase
William Merritt Chase was an American Impressionism painter and printmaker well known for his depictions of studio interiors, landscapes and society portraits as well as a supporter of Impressionism. -
Maurice Brazil Prendergast
Maurice Brazil Prendergast was an American post-impressionist painter and print-maker, well known for his delicate compositions and a mosiac-like beauty of his style. He was born 10 October 1858 in St. Johns, Newfoundland and Labrador. -
Paul Gauguin created the "trace monotype"
In the latter half of the 19th century, Paul Gauguin created his own kind of monoprinting called "trace monotype", which involved drawing on layers of paper -
Clark Hobart
Clark Hobart was an American painter and printmaker well known for his colour monotypes and his gifted paintings of landscapes and portraits. -
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse
Henri Matisse was a French Fauvism, Modernism and Post-Impressionism draughtsman, painter, printmaker and artist, well known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was regarded as one of the artists who best helped to define the revolutionary developments in the visual arts throughout the 20th century. He was born 31st December 1869 in Le Cateau-Cambrésis, France. -
Eugene Higgins
Eugene Higgins was an American social realism painter and printmaker well known for expressing his interest of humanitarianism by portraying the poor and downtrodden. -
"On The Street" by Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas was introduced to "printed drawings" by Ludovic Lepic and worked with his plates in a variety of ways such as wiping colour and adding more to the plate,using rags and figures and brushes or adding finishing touches with pastel to enhance the colours. -
Printmaking acquired a different status due to creative and spontaneous uses.
In 1877, Camille Pissarro exhibited his monoprints and interested several artists in printmaking. He overall helped printmaking acquire a different status as a result of his creative and spontaneous use of media. -
Camille Pissarro became acquainted with Degas' monotypes
In 1877, Camille Pissarro became acquainted with Degas' monotypes when they were shown in an Impressionist exhibition that Camille Pissarro participated in. -
Pablo Ruiz Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish cubism and surrealism painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer, poet and playwright, well known as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, for co-founding the Cubist movement, for the invention of constructed sculpture, for the co-invention of collage, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore. He was born 25 October 1881 in Malaga, Spain. -
Milton Avery
Milton Avery was an American Modern art painter, commercial illustrator and printmaker, well known and celebrated for his portraits, still lifes and landscapes that used broad swaths of luminous colour and stylized forms in order to capture the essence of a scene without fixating on details. He was born 7th March 1885 in Altmar, New York. -
Marc Chagall
Moishe Shagall, known as Marc Chagall, is a Russian-French cubism and expressionism painter, illustrator, stained glass and stage set designer, ceramicist, printmaker and artist of Jewish origin, well known as "the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century" and "the world's pre-eminent Jewish artist". He was born 6 July 1887 in Liozna, near Vitebsk, Russian Empire. -
"Vacherie le soir" by Camille Pissarro
In 1890, Camille Pissarro created his first monotype called "Vacherie le soir" -
"Das Monotype" was published and featured monotype artists
In 1891, Sylvester R. Kochler's "Das Monotype" featured the term 'monotype" and discussed Castiglione, William Blake, William Merritt Chase and Charles Alvah Walker. -
"Street Scene" by Maurice Prendergast
In 1891-1894, Maurice Prendergast created his first monotype called "Street Scene". He created monotypes in a different way than most monotypes, by using a large spoon to rub on the back of the paper against the plate and transfer the paint from the plate to the paper. In his monotypes, he used boldly contrasting and jewel;-like colours and bright, unmodulated colours with flat, pattern-like forms that are rhythmically arranged on a canvas. -
Degas ceased making monotypes
By 1893, Degas ceased making monotypes after creating 450 prints from his 18-year career of 1874-1892. -
"Arearea no Varua" by Paul Gauguin
In 1894, Paul Gauguin created his first monotype called "Arearea no Varua". Paul Gauguin worked independently and developed his own technique called trace monotype, which consisted of inking a sheet of paper and drawing on the back of fresh paper to transfer the ink to create an image in a linear manner. A few years late, Paul Klee experimented and mastered this monotype method in his inventive drawings. -
"Landscape with Cottage" by William Merritt Chase
In 1900, William Merritt Chase created his first monoprint called "Landscape with Cottage" -
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Computer graphics affected the practise of printmaking
In the twentieth century, there were many developments that affected the practise of printmaking, such as computer graphics due to its instant results. -
French artists produced hundreds of richly coloured figurative monotypes
At the turn of the twentieth century, French artists produced hundreds of richly coloured figurative monotypes. These monotypes were usually painted with oil colours on smooth glass or metal and paper and pressed with a roller or hand to produce sparkling impressions. -
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The decisive art styles of the 19th century were taking shape in Paris.
Between 1905-1917 Pablo Picasso, Georges Rouault and Henri Matisse, who had a practise at printmaking and a love for experimentation, adopted the monotype technique and printed monoprints at the same time that the decisive art styles of the 19th century were taking shape in Paris. -
Dada and Surrealism had an influence on monoprinting.
In the late 1910's, Dada and Surrealism emerged and exerted a powerful and enduring influence on the production of monoprinting with found materials. -
Frottage was developed by Max Ernst
From 1925, Max Ernst developed the frottage technique in drawings. Max Ernst was inspired by an ancient wooden floor where the grain of the planks had been accentuated by many years of scrubbing. -
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Monoprinting was not just used for a medium for a body of work.
After the flurry of interest in the monotype among American artists in 1901,artists used monoprinting as a diversion rather than a medium for a body of work in 1920-1930, -
Photograms were invented
In 1922, Lazlo Moholy-Nagy saw Man Ray's experimental "Rayographs" and, in response, produced his own experiments called "Photograms"
Christian Schad -
Nathan Oliveria
Nathan Oliveira was an American painter, printmaker, sculptor and art teacher. He was a prominent member of the second generation of the Bay Area Figurative artists. He is best remembered for the brilliantly coloured figurative and landscape paintings that have a sense of Expressionist looseness. He was born 19th December 1928 in Oakland, California. Willem de Kooning, Francis Bacon, and Edvard Munch. -
Jasper Johns
Jasper Johns is an American abstract expressionism, neo-dada and pop art painter, sculptor and printmaker well known for his bright and vibrant depictions of the American flag and other US-related topics. -
Mary Lockspeiser
Mary Frank (born Mary Lockspeiser) is an English visual artist, sculptor, painter, printmaker, draftswoman and illustrator. He was born on London, England. -
Micheal Burton Mazur
Micheal Mazur was an American artist, printmaker, painter and sculptor who was described as "restlessly inventive". -
Matt Phillips
Matt Phillips is an American painter, printmaker and art educator well known for his use of monoprinting. -
"Untitled 712" by Harry Bertoia
In 1939, Harry Bertoia created his first monoprint called "Untitled 712" -
Monotypes were excluded from print exhibitions and museum exhibitions
During the print renaissance after World War 2, monotype prints were excluded from print exhibitions and museum exhibitions featuring monotypes were rare. Because of this, artists showed a lack of interest in the knowledge of their potential. -
Milton Avery developed monotypes while recovering in hospital
In the 1950's, Milton Avery developed a series of monotypes while recovering in hospital. These prints reflected an inventiveness and experimentally. -
The rise of print studios encouraged artists to explore printmaking
In the 1960’s and 1970’s, the rise of print studio encouraged artists to explore the potential of printmaking and use it to produce works that represented major breakthroughs as creative statements. For the first time, prints were placed alongside sculpture and painting as a means of creative expression. -
Monoprinting became popular in the 1960s
In the 1960s, the monoprinting technique became more popular with the extraordinary colourful monotypes created by Marc Chagall. -
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Printmaking has developed in many new directions
From the cutting-edge experiments of 1960’s, printmaking has developed in many new directions and have become more visible, accessible and affordable than ever before, now being a central part of many artists’ activity. -
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In Malaysia, monoprinting was also practised by several artists
Malaysia established significant documentation that included the movement of traditional printmaking and the exploration of digital print, as well as emphasising the manifestation of variety lines explored and used in monoprint. The Malaysian study of monoprint was embedded with detailed analysis that compared the technical aspects that distinguish between monoprint and monotype. For this research, most of the samples were gathered from local artists. -
The Fogg Art Museum exhibited Edgar Degas' monotypes
In 1968, the Fogg Art Museum exhibited Edgar Degas' monotypes. Its catalogue from the exhibition sparked an exhibition of new monotype prints and subsequent exhibitions of monotypes by past and living in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Francisco. -
Monotype artists studied Degas' techniques
By 1976, most monotype artists studied the techniques that Degas used in his work such as printing more than once with the same plate and reworking the impressions using hand-applied colours. The artists that showed this clearly were Micheal Mazur, Mary Frank, Nathen Oliveria and Richard Dickenhorn, who utilised the late impressions of their monotypes and the 'ghosts' that remained on their printed plates. -
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New technology co-opted fine art printmaking with traditional techniques being supplanted and modified
From 1970 onward, new technology has swiftly been co-opted for fine art printmaking with traditional techniques being supplanted and modified. However, some artists have continued to explore the potential of more traditional method. The rise of new media, despite being seen as a threat to the future of printmaking, has extended the option of choice and capacity. -
Monotype was being "invented" all over Europe and America
In the 80's, the only stigma of artificial printing was infused into Symbolism and monotype was being "invented" all over Europe and America.
