Surrealism in art, poetry, and literature utilizes numerous unique techniques and games to provide inspiration. Many of these are said to free imagination by producing a creative process free of conscious control. The importance of the unconscious as a source of inspiration is central to the nature of surrealism. Yves Tanguy Indefinite Divisibility 1942 Surrealism[1] is a cultural movement that began in the mid-1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members. ... The Bath, a painting by Mary Cassatt (1844–1926). ... The Chinese poem Quatrain on Heavenly Mountain by Emperor Gaozong (Song Dynasty) Poetry (from the Greek , poiesis, a making or creating) is a form of art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its ostensible meaning. ... Old book bindings at the Merton College library. ... This article is in need of attention. ... Consciousness is a quality of the mind generally regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and ones environment. ... This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

The Surrealist movement has been a fractious one since its inception. The value and role of the various techniques has been one of many subjects of disagreement. Some Surrealists consider automatism and Surrealist games to be sources of inspiration only, while others consider them as starting points for finished works. Others consider the items created through automatism to be finished works themselves, needing no further refinement. Automatism is the practice or theory of the spontaneous production of words (speech or writing), drawing, painting or other creative production, or behavior in general, without conscious self-control or self-censorship. ...

Aerography

Main article: Aerography (arts)

Aerography is a technique in which a 3-dimensional object is used as a stencil with spraypainting. Aerography is a surrealist method in which a stencil, which would have been used in spraypainting, is replaced by a three-dimensional object. ... Visual diagram of a basic stencil. ... Spray painting is painting using a device that sprays the paint. ...

Automatism

Main article: Surrealist automatism

• Automatic drawing
• Automatic painting
• Automatic writing
• Automatic poetry is poetry written using the automatic method. It has probably been the chief surrealist method from the founding of surrealism to the present day. One of the oddest uses of automatic writing by a great writer was that of W. B. Yeats. His wife, a spiritualist, practised it, and Yeats put large chunks of it into his prose work, A Vision and much of his later poetry. Yeats, however, was not a surrealist.

Automatic poetry generators exist online, but they do not actually generate automatic poetry in this sense. Headline text Automatism is a surrealist technique involving spontaneous writing, drawing, or the like practiced without conscious aesthetic or moral self-censorship. ... Automatic drawing (distinguished from drawn expression of mediums) was developed by the surrealists, as a means of expressing the subconscious. ... Automatic painting is the adaptation of the surrealist method of automatic drawing to painting. ... For the article about the album by Ataxia, see Automatic Writing (album). ... The Chinese poem Quatrain on Heavenly Mountain by Emperor Gaozong (Song Dynasty) Poetry (from the Greek , poiesis, a making or creating) is a form of art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its ostensible meaning. ... Headline text Automatism is a surrealist technique involving spontaneous writing, drawing, or the like practiced without conscious aesthetic or moral self-censorship. ... William Butler Yeats, 1933 photograph, author unknown. ... A Vision is a 1925 collection of poems by the Irish poet William Butler Yeats. ...

Bulletism

Main article: Bulletism

Bulletism is shooting ink at a blank piece of paper. The artist can then develop images based on what is seen. Bulletist or bulletism is a process that involves shooting ink at a blank piece of paper. ... An ink is a liquid containing various pigments and/or dyes used for coloring a surface to render an image or text. ... A blank sheet of paper Paper is a commodity of thin material produced by the amalgamation of fibers, typically vegetable fibers composed of cellulose, which are subsequently held together by hydrogen bonding. ...

Calligramme

A calligramme is a text or poem, of a type, or the word for which was, developed by Guillaume Apollinaire in 1918, in which the words or letters make up a shape, particularly a shape connected to the subject of the text or poem. Poetry (ancient Greek: poieo = create) is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. ... Guillaume Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire (August 26, 1880 – November 9, 1918) was a poet, writer, and art critic. ... 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ...

Reference: Examples of calligrammes
Modern examples and make your own (Flash)

Collage

Main article: Collage

Collage is the assemblage of different forms creating a new whole. For example, an artistic collage work may include newspaper clippings, ribbons, bits of colored or hand-made papers, photographs, etc., glued to a solid support or canvas. A collage composed of magazine articles and pictures Collage (From the French: , to stick) is regarded as a work of visual arts made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...

Coulage

A coulage is a kind of automatic or involuntary sculpture made by pouring a molten material (such as metal, wax, chocolate or white chocolate) into cold water. As the material cools it takes on what appears to be a random (or aleatoric) form, though the physical properties of the materials involved may lead to a conglomeration of discs or spheres. The artist may utilize a variety of techniques to affect the outcome. Automatism is the practice or theory of the spontaneous production of words (speech or writing), drawing, painting or other creative production, or behavior in general, without conscious self-control or self-censorship. ... A sculpture is a three-dimensional object, which for the purposes of this article is man-made and selected for special recognition as art. ... Hot metal work from a blacksmith In chemistry, a metal (Greek: Metallon) is an element that readily loses electrons to form positive ions (cations) and has metallic bonds between metal atoms. ... candle wax This page is about the substance. ... Chocolate most commonly comes in dark, milk, and white varieties, with cocoa solids contributing to the brown coloration. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Impact from a water drop causes an upward rebound jet surrounded by circular capillary waves. ... Aleatory (or aleatoric) means pertaining to luck. Aleatoric art is that which exploits the principle of randomness. ...

This technique is also used in the divination process known as ceromancy. This article is about the religious practice of divination. ... Divination is the occultic practice of ascertaining information by supernatural means. ...

Cubomania

An application of cubomania

Cubomania is a method of making collages in which a picture or image is cut into squares and the squares are then reassembled without regard for the image. The technique was first used by the Romanian surrealist Gherasim Luca. Download high resolution version (600x720, 413 KB)My Fantasy Arrives by Post (cubomania by Daniel C. Boyer) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Download high resolution version (600x720, 413 KB)My Fantasy Arrives by Post (cubomania by Daniel C. Boyer) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... A collage composed of magazine articles and pictures Collage (From the French: , to stick) is regarded as a work of visual arts made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into image (disambiguation). ... Gherasim Luca (or Gherashim Luca) (July 23, 1913 - February 9, 1994) was a surrealist theorist and Romanian poet, frequently cited in the works of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. ...

(This definition of cubomania is to be distinguished from the use of the word to mean "obsession with cubes.")thats all i could find A cube[1] is a three-dimensional solid object bounded by six square faces, facets or sides, with three meeting at each vertex. ...

Cut-up technique

Main article: Cut-up technique

Cut-up technique is a literary form or method in which a text is cut up at random and rearranged to create a new text. The cut-up technique is an aleatory literary technique or genre in which a text is cut up at random and rearranged to create a new text. ...

Decalcomania

Main article: Decalcomania

Decalcomania is a process of spreading thick paint upon a canvas then—while it is still wet—covering it with further material such as paper or aluminium foil. This covering is then removed (again before the paint dries), and the resultant paint pattern becomes the basis of the finished painting. The technique was much employed by artists such as Max Ernst. Decalcomania is a surrealist technique originated by Oscar Dominguez (and called by him decalcomania with no preconceived object) in 1936 in which gouache is spread thinly on a sheet of paper or other surface (glass has been used), which is then pressed onto another surface such as a canvas. ... Max Ernst and Dorothea Tanning in 1948. ...

Dream résumé

The dream résumé takes the form of an employment résumé but chronicles its subject's achievements, employment, or the like, in dreams, rather than in waking life. Sometimes dream résumés contain the achievements of both, however. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... “Dreams” redirects here. ...

Echo poem

Look up echo poem in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

An echo poem is a poem written using a technique invented by Aurélien Dauguet in 1972. The poem is composed by one or more persons, working together in a process as follows. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wiktionary (a portmanteau of wiki and dictionary) is a multilingual, Web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in over 150 languages. ... Poetry (ancient Greek: poieo = create) is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. ... Year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The first "stanza" of the poem is written on the left-hand column of a piece of paper divided into two columns. Then the "opposite" of the first stanza, opposite in whatever sense is appropriate to the poem, is composed in the right-hand column of the page. The writing is done automatically and often the "opposite" stanza is composed of a sound correspondence to the first stanza. Headline text Automatism is a surrealist technique involving spontaneous writing, drawing, or the like practiced without conscious aesthetic or moral self-censorship. ...

For a longer work, the third stanza can then begin in the left-hand column as an "opposite" or a sound correspondence to what preceded it in the right-hand column. Then the fourth stanza might be an "opposite" or sound correspondence to what preceded it in the left-hand column, and so forth. When the poem is completed, the opposite of the last phrase, line, or sentence, generally serves as the title.

This is unrelated to the non-Surrealist echo verse form which appears as a dialogue between the questions of a character and the answers of the nymph Echo. In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo (plural echoes) is a reflection of sound, arriving at the listener some time after the direct sound. ... Echo and Narcissus, by John William Waterhouse. ...

Entoptic graphomania

Entoptic graphomania, sometimes, though inaccurately, called "entopic graphomania,"[1] is a surrealist and automatic method of drawing in which dots are made at the sites of impurities in a blank sheet of paper, and lines are then made between the dots. Drawing is a visual art which makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. ...

The method was invented by Dolfi Trost, who as the subtitle of his 1945 book ("Vision dans le cristal. Oniromancie obsessionelle. Et neuf graphomanies entoptiques") suggests, included nine examples therein. This method of "indecipherable writing" (see below) was supposedly an example of "surautomatism," the controversial theory put forward by Trost and Gherashim Luca in which surrealist methods would be practiced that "went beyond" automatism. In Dialectique de Dialectique they had proposed the further radicalization of surrealist automatism by abandoning images produced by artistic techniques in favour of those "resulting from rigorously applied scientific procedures," allegedly cutting the notion of "artist" out of the process of creating images and replacing it with chance and scientific rigour. However, the question has arisen whether an algorithm should be used to determine in what order to connect the dots to maintain the "automatic" nature of the method.[2] Dolfi Trost was a Romanian surrealist poet and theorist, and the instigator of entopic graphomania. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... Surautomatism is any theory or act in practice of surrealist creative production taking or purporting to take automatism to its most absurd limits. ... Gherasim Luca (or Gherashim Luca) (July 23, 1913 - February 9, 1994) was a surrealist theorist and Romanian poet, frequently cited in the works of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. ... The definition of an artist is wide-ranging and covers a broad spectrum of activities to do with creating art, practising the arts and/or demonstrating an art. ...

Entoptic graphomania has been rather romantically and mysteriously characterised by Krell Industries as a "dramatic process... in which combustion is intermittent and there exists reciprocating machinery."[3]

External link: Example of Trost's entoptic graphomania.

Étrécissements

Collage is perceived as an additive method of visual poetry whereas Étrécissements are a reductive method. This was first employed by Marcel Mariën in the 1950s. The results are achieved by the cutting away of parts of images to encourage a new image, by means of a pair of scissors or any other manipulative sharpened instrument. A collage composed of magazine articles and pictures Collage (From the French: , to stick) is regarded as a work of visual arts made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ... Marcel Mariën (1920 - 1993) was a Belgian surrealist, (later situationist), poet, essayist, photographer, filmmaker*, and maker of objects. ... This does not cite any references or sources. ...

Exquisite corpse

Main article: Exquisite corpse

Exquisite corpse or Cadavre exquis is a method by which a collection of words or images are collectively assembled. It is based on an old parlour game known by the same name (and also as Consequences) in which players wrote in turn on a sheet of paper, folded it to conceal part of the writing, and then passed it to the next player for a further contribution. An example of graphical exquisite corpse Exquisite corpse (also known as exquisite cadaver or rotating corpse) is a method by which a collection of words or images are collectively assembled, the result being known as the exquisite corpse or cadavre exquis in French. ... Consequences is an old parlour game similar to the surrealist game exquisite corpse. ...

Frottage

Main article: Frottage (surrealist technique)

Frottage is a method of creation in which one takes a pencil or other drawing tool and makes a "rubbing" over a textured surface. The drawing can either be left as is or used as the basis for further refinement. In art, frottage (from French frotter to rub) is a surrealist and automatic method of creative production developed by Max Ernst. ...

Fumage

Main article: Fumage

Fumage is a technique in which impressions are made by the smoke of a candle or kerosene lamp on a piece of paper or canvas. Fumage is a surrealist technique invented by Wolfgang Paalen in which impressions are made by the smoke of a candle or kerosene lamp on a piece of paper or canvas. ... Smoke from a wildfire Smoke is the airborne solid and liquid particulates and gases evolved when a material undergoes pyrolysis or combustion, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... It has been suggested that Petromax be merged into this article or section. ...

Games

Main article: Surrealist games

This article is in need of attention. ...

Grattage

Grattage is a surrealist technique in painting in which (usually dry) paint is scraped off the canvas. It was employed by Max Ernst and Joan Miró [4]. For building painting, see painter and decorator. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Max Ernst and Dorothea Tanning in 1948. ... Joan Miró photo taken by Carl Van Vechten, June, 1935 Joan Miró i Ferrà (April 20, 1893 – December 25, 1983) was a Catalan painter, sculptor, and ceramist born in Catalonia, Spain. ...

Heatage

Heatage is an automatic technique developed and used by David Hare in which an exposed but unfixed photographic negative is heated from below, causing the emulsion (and the resulting image, when developed) to distort in a random fashion. David Hare (March 10, 1917 – December 21, 1992) was an American artist, associated with the Surrealist movement. ... Color, positive picture (A) and negative (B), monochrome positive picture (C) and negative (D) In photography, a negative may refer to 3 different things, although they are all related. ... A. Two immisicible liquids, not emulsified; B. An emulsion of Phase B dispersed in Phase A; C. The unstable emulsion progressively separates; D. The surfactant (purple outline) positions itself on the interfaces between Phase A and Phase B, stabilizing the emulsion An emulsion is a mixture of two immiscible (unblendable...

Indecipherable writing

In addition to its obvious meaning of writing that is illegibile or for whatever other reason cannot be made out by the reader, indecipherable writing refers to a set of automatic techniques, most developed by Romanian surrealists and falling under the heading of surautomatism. Examples include entoptic graphomania, fumage and the movement of liquid down a vertical surface. A more recent term for illegible forms of writing is asemic writing. Automatism is the practice or theory of the spontaneous production of words (speech or writing), drawing, painting or other creative production, or behavior in general, without conscious self-control or self-censorship. ... Surautomatism is any theory or act in practice of surrealist creative production taking or purporting to take automatism to its most absurd limits. ... Fumage is a surrealist technique invented by Wolfgang Paalen in which impressions are made by the smoke of a candle or kerosene lamp on a piece of paper or canvas. ... Asemic writing is an open semantic form of writing. ...

Involuntary sculpture

Surrealism describes as "involuntary sculpture" those made by absent-mindedly manipulating something, such as rolling and unrolling a movie ticket, bending a paper clip, and so forth.

Latent news

Latent news is a game in which an article from a newspaper is cut into individual words (or perhaps phrases) and then rapidly reassembled; see also Cut-up technique. The cut-up technique is an aleatory literary technique or genre in which a text is cut up at random and rearranged to create a new text. ...

Mimeogram

An example of "movement of liquid down a vertical surface"

A mimeogram is a type of automatic art made by peeling off the backing sheets of mimeograph stencils. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (843x1103, 120 KB)movement of liquid down a vertical surface The Sandstone Erections Masked Badlands the Utahian and Delicate Spires Exclaved by Torquemadas Blister Which Is Your Very Special Freckle ink Daniel C. Boyer 2004 File history Legend: (cur) = this... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (843x1103, 120 KB)movement of liquid down a vertical surface The Sandstone Erections Masked Badlands the Utahian and Delicate Spires Exclaved by Torquemadas Blister Which Is Your Very Special Freckle ink Daniel C. Boyer 2004 File history Legend: (cur) = this... Headline text Automatism is a surrealist technique involving spontaneous writing, drawing, or the like practiced without conscious aesthetic or moral self-censorship. ... The Bath, a painting by Mary Cassatt (1844–1926). ... Mimeograph machine The Mimeograph machine (commonly abbreviated to Mimeo), or stencil duplicator was a printing machine that was far cheaper per copy than any other process in runs of several hundred to several thousand copies. ...

Movement of liquid down a vertical surface

The movement of liquid down a vertical surface is, as the name suggests, a technique, invented by surrealists from Romania and said by them to be surautomatic and a form of indecipherable writing, of making pictures by dripping or allowing a flow of some form of liquid down a vertical surface. Surautomatism is any theory or act in practice of surrealist creative production taking or purporting to take automatism to its most absurd limits. ...

Outagraphy

The outagraph is a photograph in which the subject, what the photograph is "of," is cut out. The method was invented by Ted Joans. Ted Joans (July 4, 1928 - April 25, 2003), born Theodore Jones, was an American painter, trumpeter and a jazz poet. ...

Outagraph of the old Houghton, Michigan fire station

outagraph of old Houghton, Michigan fire station (1994) by Daniel C. Boyer File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... outagraph of old Houghton, Michigan fire station (1994) by Daniel C. Boyer File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...

Paranoiac-critical method

Main article: Paranoiac-critical method

Paranoiac-critical method is a technique involving the use of the active process of the mind to visualise images in the work and incorporate these into the final product. An example of the resulting work is a double image or multiple image in which an ambiguous image can be interpreted in different ways. The Paranoiac-critical method is a surrealist technique developed by Salvador Dalí in the early 1930s, often employed in the production of paintings and other artworks. ...

Pareidolia

Pareidolia is a technique in which one attempts to "find" human or animal faces in the random arrangements of nature, e.g.: in the dregs of a teacup, the curls of cigarette smoke, some ashes in the fireplace, in the craters of the moon. One can then base artworks around drawn, painted or photographed copies of those "faces". The term pareidolia (pronounced or ), first used in 1994 by Steven Goldstein,[1] describes a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant. ...

Parsemage

Parsemage is a surrealist and automatic method in the visual arts invented by Ithell Colquhoun in which dust from charcoal or colored chalk is scattered on the surface of water and then skimmed off by passing a stiff paper or cardboard just under the water's surface. Surrealism is an artistic movement and an aesthetic philosophy that aims for the liberation of the mind by emphasizing the critical and imaginative powers of the subconscious. ... Headline text Automatism is a surrealist technique involving spontaneous writing, drawing, or the like practiced without conscious aesthetic or moral self-censorship. ... Many times, the term art is used to refer to the visual arts. ... Ithell Colquhoun (1904 - 1988) was a British surrealist painter and author. ... Charcoal is the blackish residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. ... The Needles,situated on the Isle Of Wight, are part of the extensive Southern England Chalk Formation. ...

Photomontage

Main article: Photomontage

Photomontage is making of composite picture by cutting and joining a number of photographs. An imaginary world composed of photorealistic inanimate, human, and plant objects spurs a psychological impact upon the viewer. ...

Soufflage

Main article: Soufflage

Soufflage is a technique in which liquid paint is blown onto a surface to inspire or reveal an image Soufflage is a surrealist technique originated by Jimmy Ernst in which liquid paint is blown to inspire or reveal an image. ...

Surautomatism

Main article: Surautomatism

Surautomatism is any theory or act of taking automatism to its most absurd limits. Surautomatism is any theory or act in practice of surrealist creative production taking or purporting to take automatism to its most absurd limits. ...

Triptography

Triptography is an automatic photographic technique whereby a roll of film is used three times (either by the same photographer or, in the spirit of Exquisite Corpse, three different photographers), causing it to be triple-exposed in such a way that the chances of any single photograph having a clear and definite subject is nearly impossible. Indeed, finding any edges on the negative itself during the developing process is a nearly impossible task. Typically the developing of such a roll of film is an exercise in automatic technique in and of itself, cutting the film by counting sprocket holes alone, with no regard for the images present on the negative. The results have a quality reminiscent of the transitory period in sleep when one dream suddenly becomes another.

Creativist Christopher Thurlow claims to have discovered this technique when his urge to continue taking photographs was suddenly challenged by the fact that he had run out of un-exposed film.