Architectural Monotypes
Notre-Dame de Paris, monotype and Inktense pencils 1/2, 10” x 8,” 2025
Monotype is a printmaking medium that makes use of an inked plate — typically copper, zinc or Plexiglass — to create one or two impressions of a drawn or painted image. These impressions are one-of-a-kind. Unlike etching or engraving, which affect the integrity of a plate by means of acid or sharp tools, monotype printing does not damage the plate’s surface. Monotype plates, treated kindly, can provide years of service.
The Prints
Above and below are three of my most recent monotypes. All happen to be building facades: the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris; the west facade of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain; and one of the principal pavilions of the Zwinger, an 18th-century former pleasure palace in Dresden, Germany, that is now a museum.
I’m including first and “ghost” impressions for each, and, for a couple of them, the before-and-after states of pre-tweak and post-tweak. All three images were made on the same 8″ x 10″ copper plate.
These monotypes were done in a spirit of homage to architectural achievement. These buildings have been the focus of attention of a lot of other people over the centuries. They are products of historic communal efforts in creation and conservation. Although my drawing skills do not extend to precise renderings of architecture, my intention is to evoke the grandeur of these structures.
At the time I made the first of these prints, the Cathedral of Notre-Dame had just been reopened to the public after the disastrous fire of 2019. Many of us around the globe were newly appreciating its restored state, particularly its just-cleaned harmonic facade.
As an art historian, I engaged with two colleagues in preparing a translation and annotated edition of a 12th-century pilgrim’s guide to Santiago de Compostela. I spent many days in the city, and many more traveling to it, or thinking about others who traveled to it. Our focus then was the 12th-century Romanesque sculptures of the south transept facade. This piece showcases the 18th-century skin of the west facade built around the original building, which I have always liked.
In my first teaching job, in the art history department of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, I was assigned a course that I had to prepare on two weeks’ notice, Basic Trends in European Architecture. This required me to learn about a lot of things I didn’t quite know much about, very fast, and one of them was the wonderful 18th-century pleasure palace in Dresden called the Zwinger. The name, translatable as “nursery,” refers to the long structures that could serve to grow trees that would otherwise not have been found in Dresden’s climate. Badly damaged in World War II, like much of Dresden, it has been beautifully restored, and now serves as an event venue.
The Process
I am fortunate to be part of a group of monotype artists who have gathered monthly at the Salmagundi Club in lower Manhattan for over a decade to make prints together. I have printed several hundred monotypes at Salmagundi, a combination of unique first and second impressions. First impressions are typically darker and higher in contrast. Second impressions are visibly fainter than first ones, it’s been the custom to call them ghosts or ghost prints. We often tweak our prints later, after they’ve dried, using a variety of mediums and tools.
Because I can provide studio space in my studio for a number of dissatisfied monotypists who want to refine their rough prints, we throw ourselves the occasional ghost party, to which people bring their prints, watercolors, razor blades, pastels, oil pastels colored pencils and other sometimes surprising tools to make whatever improvements they like. As at the monotype parties themselves, these occasions are often relaxed ones of mutual learning, with participants discovering what might be possible and trying new tools or mediums.
Sometimes I’ve used watercolor or pastel to color a monotype. In the case of these three forays into expressionistic interpretations of architecture, I opted to use essentially monochrome additions to the raw prints, primarily Inktense pencils, and to scrape off excess blots with a razor blade. The numbering 1/2 or 2/2 simply indicates first or second impression.
The Community
A recent “ghost party” at my studio allowed a group from the Salmagundi monotype parties to finish working on some of our accumulated prints. We don’t print at these occasions, but the group is generous with one another in sharing techniques, tools, supplies and appreciations.
Monotype at Salmagundi
Monotype parties are held at the Salmagundi Club of New York, 47 Fifth Avenue @12th Street, on the first Tuesday of each month; for further information, see http://www.salmagundi.org. The next evening is scheduled for April 1.
