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In art
Art

Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music and literature....
, frottage (from French frotter, "to rub") is a surrealist
Surrealism

Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early-1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
 and "automatic" method of creative production developed by Max Ernst
Max Ernst

Max Ernst was a German Painting, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst is considered to be one of the primary pioneers of Dada movement and Surrealism....
.

In frottage the artist takes a pencil or other drawing tool and makes a "rubbing
Rubbing

A rubbing is a reproduction of the texture of a surface created by placing a piece of paper or similar material over the subject and then rubbing the paper with something to deposit marks, most commonly charcoal or pencil, but also various forms of blotted and rolled ink, chalk, wax, and many other substances as well....
" over a textured surface. The drawing can be left as is or used as the basis for further refinement. While superficially similar to brass rubbing
Brass rubbing

Brass rubbing was originally a largely Great Britain enthusiasm for reproducing onto paper Monumental brasses -- commemorative brass plaques found in churches, usually originally on the floor, from between the 13th and 16th centuries....
 and other forms of rubbing intended to reproduce an existing subject, and in fact sometimes being used as an alternate term for rubbing, frottage differs in being aleatoric or improvisational and random in nature.

It was developed by Ernst in drawings made from 1925.






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In art
Art

Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music and literature....
, frottage (from French frotter, "to rub") is a surrealist
Surrealism

Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early-1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
 and "automatic" method of creative production developed by Max Ernst
Max Ernst

Max Ernst was a German Painting, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst is considered to be one of the primary pioneers of Dada movement and Surrealism....
.

In frottage the artist takes a pencil or other drawing tool and makes a "rubbing
Rubbing

A rubbing is a reproduction of the texture of a surface created by placing a piece of paper or similar material over the subject and then rubbing the paper with something to deposit marks, most commonly charcoal or pencil, but also various forms of blotted and rolled ink, chalk, wax, and many other substances as well....
" over a textured surface. The drawing can be left as is or used as the basis for further refinement. While superficially similar to brass rubbing
Brass rubbing

Brass rubbing was originally a largely Great Britain enthusiasm for reproducing onto paper Monumental brasses -- commemorative brass plaques found in churches, usually originally on the floor, from between the 13th and 16th centuries....
 and other forms of rubbing intended to reproduce an existing subject, and in fact sometimes being used as an alternate term for rubbing, frottage differs in being aleatoric or improvisational and random in nature.

It was developed by Ernst in drawings made from 1925. Ernst was inspired by an ancient wooden floor where the grain of the planks had been accentuated by many years of scrubbing. The patterns of the graining suggested strange images to him. He captured these by laying sheets of paper on the floor and then rubbing over them with a soft pencil.

The use of frottage in Surrealism and Surealist art is appropriate, since it also assumed the role of "rubbing" in its sexual context. This is especially relevant to surrealism seeing as much of the content behind the art works were based on that of sexuality, though of course other themes include politics, war, non-conformism, and (one which made up much of the surrealist art works) dreams and automatic thought. In many cases, especially in works of artists such as De Chirico and Dali, some or all of these themes were used in any given work of art. Frottage has also been used in mail art
Mail art

Mail art is art which uses the postal system as a medium. The term mail art can refer to an individual message, the medium through which it is sent, or an artistic genre....
.

See also

  • Surrealist techniques
    Surrealist techniques

    Surrealism in art, poetry, and literature utilizes numerous techniques and games to provide inspiration. Many of these are said to free imagination by producing a creative process free of consciousness control....