Venezia

James P. Monson

Monson used the technique of reduction cutting to create this print. The block is re-cut after each stage of color printing, which results in the block being destroyed in the process of creating the image. He uses two blocks of linden wood: the first to develop the background with its independent colors and the second to create the objects composition.

Before printing begins, it is essential that the concept and color solution has been well defined. The development of the second plate follows a logical progression. If the plate is cut before the first printing, the white of the paper will be preserved in those areas. One begins by developing the lightest areas such as yellow, followed by orange etc. At the end of each printing run, those elements that are cut away, remain that last printed color. For the transition from warm to cool color (red to green ), the last color is covered by several layers of opaque white ink. As each area of color is developed and eliminated, the progressive resolution of the image also results in the destruction of the block matrix. After the final printed passage then, only the last few forms remain. It is therefore impossible to print further images from the woodblock. The development of each print image takes approximately two months.

Jim Monson was born in Minnesota, in 1943. Monson received a Master's and a Master of Fine Arts degree in printmaking from the University of Iowa, studying under Mauricio Lasansky. In 1969 Monson worked with Stanley William Hayter at Atelier 17 in Paris, and from 1970 to 1973 he was Hayter's assistant and printer. He established his own studio and summer workshops in Tourrette-Levens and he was a Guest Lecturer at the Tyler School of Art in Rome. In 1976 Monson was appointed Assistant Professor of Printmaking at Carleton College and St. Olaf College. He participated in the Print Symposium with Garo Antreasian at the University of MA in Amherst in 1981. Monson was the Assistant Professor of Printmaking and Drawing at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA from 1977 to 1982 and in 1985 he returned to Europe to live and work in southern France.