Jim Monson

Jim Monson is from Minneapolis in the United States. He studied copper-plate printmaking with Mauricio Lasansky, a well known Argentine artist. In 1969, with his master of Fine Arts diploma in hand, he leaves for Paris to work with the English artist, S.W.Hayter, whose Paris studio is known since 1927 for revitalizing the art of the print. Jim now works in the woodcut technique. Inspired by the way Picasso used color printing to make his linoleum prints, he reworks his woodblock for the printing of each nuance of colour. His art is represented in collections and galleries around the world. He is one of the rare artists in France to use this colour printing technique for woodcuts. Xylography (or woodcuts) are different from the other three processes : lithography, serigraphy and copper-plate printing.

- Lithography: the image is printed by means of a flat limestone.

- Serigraphy: is printed with a silk screen and Etching and Engraving use a metal plate, on which line or forms are etched with acid or incised with a burin. Those areas incised or etched will hold ink for the printed impression on paper.

With the process of woodcut, it is the surface of the block which is printed and contrary to the other techniques, what is cut away from the surface no longer prints or holds ink. Jim uses the process of reduction cutting after each stage of colour printing, which result with the woodblock 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 colours and the second to create the objects composition. Before printing begins, it is essential that the concept and colour 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 colour. For the transition from warm to cool colour ( red to green ), the last colour is covered by several layers of opaque white ink. As each area of colour 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.