What Is Monochromatic Art?
In order for a work of art to be termed Monochromatic Art, it generally is required that the art be done in one color.
There are variants to this style yet the general application applies. Various hues of the single color can be used in order to create the work, its shapes, and imagery within the composition of art.
In this way the work still holds contrast in order to give it form whether as it imitates nature, a person, or object. Home decorators love what it can offer in terms of styling.
Artists love this type of work for its power through artistic expression. Often it encompasses more than imitation to life. Wrapped into its meaning can be found emotion and spiritual depth.
What you will soon learn is how this revolutionary idea is natural to human nature. It has touched every part of our lives.
Daily we use and interact on a level with objects inspired by this art one never would otherwise think about.
History Of Monochromatic Art
It was in Paris at the first exhibition of the Incoherent Arts in 1882 that we see this art enter into Europe. Before this its concepts can be traced back to the 1600’s.
Some may be surprised to know that Wood Burning Art within the 1800’s was credited with early popularity for Monochromatic Art. It was the Victorian Era itself which gave us the name Pyrography.
The overall movement would take time for its roots to grow deep and be properly recognized. This would be achieved by a surge in popularity from Moscow Russia in the early 1900’s.
Later men such as Milton Resnick, Ad Reinhardt, and Richard Pousette-Dart would bring popularity to these works in the USA.

While this art is predominantly of one color a common exception that can be found is when black and white is used.
Robert Rauschenberg in the 1950s became known for this style and later his red canvasses. Today attempts at art of this nature might would seem odd or silly.
Nevertheless this was the birth of the Monochromatic Art movement.
There were artists who would paint a panel a single color with brush or rollers much like one would a wall within a house. The completed panel of that color would have no shape or form, nor variation in its color. Yet this painted panel they would call and display as art.
Others would use panels such as this in various arrangements on walls. At times it would consist of groupings where more than one panel or canvass would then represent the art.
In time much would change in what was to be called monochrome art.
While in its infancy this art would be geometric in nature, or at other times without any form at all. It certainly was often abstract.
Artists like Alexander Rodchenko considered this art to be purely about emotion or feeling.
Ad Reinhardt would create a canvass of a single color but add a twist. He altered the original color of the canvas slightly then added geometric shapes with line art.
One viewing the art would have to spend time searching for these shapes. This was done with the intent of requiring “meditation” on the work by incorporating interesting subject matter.
Clearly each artist could shape or reshape ideas to their desires within which they sought to achieve. This abstract nature was not the only variant of the art. More realistic imagery would be captured as well.
Modern Monochromatic Art
In time artists who wished to paint more real to life would continue with ideas from the Monochromatic Arts. It would become more common to see representation of life objects in these works with greater variation in hue of the same color.
Sketch Art by its very nature fits into this category with ease. Fan Art also easily fits and can be seen across the web from artists among all genres.

As we have stepped into the digital age, this art has become more appealing with what editing can achieve.
Digital art within a monochrome format allows for greater definition and transitions within contrast.
It is here that its popularity has surged in the form of filters. This New Media of art has seen extensive use from individual use to commercial applications.
At this moment anyone can open Google Play to find an app which will take photos and create monochrome images. Likewise one can focus on one color within the photo to create what is called “splash art”.
Digital art rendering is very similar. This technology has aided in the rise and popularity of Monochromatic Art.
Why Is Black And White Accepted As Monochrome?
If monochrome means utilizing only one color with its variation in hues, then why is black and white accepted as Monochromatic Art? If a work is to be purple, how can one add black or white, or both, and it still be called monochrome?

The answer is simple. It has to do with the spectrum of colors. We know that in light all colors are present.
Likewise if one were to mix all colors together, such as with crayons or paint, you would be left with black.
Thus white and black are both considered to be a part of every color.
It may seem odd at first, and in practical purposes we never will look at green and call it white. Nor would we call black another color like red.
Yet at its most basic form, magenta, cyan, yellow and black can form any color in the spectrum except white when printing.
Essentially all colors connect on the spectrum somewhere. On both ends of this spectrum white and black exist as the extreme light and darkest variation of the said color.
In this way they become accepted within many monochromatic works.
Monochromatic Art In Photography
Many may think of black and white photography if monochrome is mentioned. Yet this is not always the case.
Due to the how white and black are perceived as being within all colors, there are other variations.

An image may be of trees with the leaves as “one color” despite its variations by hue. The trees could be black, and the sky simply being light from the sun.
If you ask a child how many colors are represented in the photo they would say three. Nevertheless this style of photography is called Monochromatic Art.
It would seem that artists have broken the rules of what the definition in the name of the art would be. This goes a long way to display the abstract nature of what Monochromatic Art is.
At its inception the only limitation was the color which was used. Yet now this too is more open to interpretation.
Photography has played a major role in broadening the acceptance of what defines this art. Digital works also have had its hand in this development.
Yet due to the ability for anyone with a cell phone to take a picture, what we accept as a standard is defined by our daily use. In this many rules can apply.
Monochromatic Art Is Within Everything We Touch
Monochromatic Art dominantly resides within the visual arts. Images are the most common use within the average home.
Family portraits or other image art can be found readily. This will forever hold its own nostalgic feel that will remain for quite some time to come.
Paintings or prints are are among the second most common uses. It gives the ability to provide an accent to a room. Likewise it can also carry a theme in transition from room to room.

Arrangement is a key when using this art. Many prefer to still use groupings of similar pieces together in the same way artists from the 1950’s would do.
These older ideas have been adapted for modern use that many may not realize they have placed within their home.
Believe it or not monochromatic decorating with furniture is a definite “in” thing to do.
How many have bought new furniture to only then go to the paint store and compare swatches with the fabric?
If the color you selected to paint the room is a hue of the furniture fabric then it qualifies as a monochromatic room.
It can be interesting to look at things which one would never notice to see this impact. The interior of cars are often furnished with colors along this same concept.
It is such a simple and natural phenomena to human nature. It is here where art and design meet.
We indeed live within a monochrome world with all its shades and hues creating how beautiful life is. This is also a testament to applied art theory.
Abstract Art Impact Upon Monochromatic Art
In our present reality it may be hard to appreciate what Monochromatic Art had done for us. It was a long road through a short history of rapid changes that it arrived.
Within the Art Nouveau period people were attempting to get away from structured ideas. Before this time Victorian principles rules more supreme in what was accepted.
It would take moving past this era into the 1910’s where the Art Deco period rooted into society. It is here that we begin to see shifts that we would more readily recognize today.
Before this time clothing, art, and even furniture would appear very old world to us now.
It was within this Art Deco movement that Monochromatic Art grew from to reshape all that we see and touch. Few people today use wallpaper of ornate design which speaks of much older times.
Rather we paint our walls of one single color to mix and match with furniture. This is closer to Art Deco concepts than the older world views.
Here abstract concepts which were born from these early 20th century artists were able to be taken and adapted. This adaptation began to reach into every facet of the newly formed industrialized world.
Ironically it was industrialization which began this course through Romanticism. This was the first major push away from Classicism that allowed us to arrive where we are presently.
When one considers abstract art often what can come to mind is how useless or interpretive it can be. Many paintings require the artist to leave notes as to what the intent or meaning was to be.
Due to this it has a reputation which often existed on the outer fringe of accepted art.
Nevertheless if one looks at modern history it is these abstract arts which has changed the world more readily than any other. The reason for this is due to how it can form relationships so easily with other ideas. Adaptation comes naturally.
What before held no real shape or form begins to be applied to real life objects thus gaining a new form which by origin was never conceived.
Through this transition we arrive within our modern digital age having redefined once again what monochrome art is to us. Yet the path we followed to arrive here is more colorful than we realize.
The Future Of Monochromatic Art
I do not believe there is a way to really capture the future within this art. There is no doubt that it will hold an impact within where we continue to go.
I can clearly see its impact within my wood art. While wood is my canvass I typically will use a similar format in the rules of this art.
Digitally it Monochromatic Art continues to evolve and its definition is reinvented from the point of origin. There are so many influences today from across the 20th century that art itself is beginning to pick and choose its meaning.