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.
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.
Aerography
Aerography is a technique in which a 3-dimensional object is used as a
stencil with
spraypainting.
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.
The Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal used the method of automatic text in his famous book I served a British king. One chapter in the book is written as one sentence and author indors the automatic writing in the end of the book.
Bulletism
Bulletism is shooting
ink at a blank piece of
paper. The artist can then develop images based on what is seen.
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.
Reference:
Examples of calligrammes
Modern examples and make your own (Flash)
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.
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.
This technique is also used in the
divination process known as
ceromancy.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Echo poem
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.
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.
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.
Eclaboussure
Process in Surrealist painting where Oil paint or Watercolour is laid down and water or turpentine is splattered then soaked up to reveal random splatters or dots where the media was removed, this technique gives the appearance of space and atmosphere. Used in paintings by Remedios Varo.
Entoptic graphomania
Entoptic graphomania, sometimes, though inaccurately, called "entopic graphomania,"
[2] 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.
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.
[3]
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."
[4]
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.
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.
Frottage
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.
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.
Games
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 [5].
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.


Outagraph of the old Houghton, Michigan fire station
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.
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.
Photomontage
Photomontage is making of composite picture by cutting and joining a number of photographs.
Soufflage
Soufflage billy n
Surautomatism
Surautomatism is any theory or act of taking 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.
Surrealism
Surrealism and film
Surrealism and music
Surrealist Manifesto
Surrealist techniques
Surrealist games
Surrealist humor
Surrealism[1]
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Surrealism
Surrealism and film
Surrealism and music
Surrealist Manifesto
Surrealist techniques
Surrealist games
Surrealist humor
Surrealist films include Un chien andalou and L'Âge d'Or
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Surrealism
Surrealism and film
Surrealism and music
Surrealist Manifesto
Surrealist techniques
Surrealist games
Surrealist humor
Surrealist music is music which uses unexpected juxtapositions and other surrealist techniques. Anne LeBaron (2002, p.
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Surrealist Manifestos (French: Le Manifeste du Surréalisme) were issued by the Surrealism movement in 1924 and 1929.
First manifesto
The first Surrealist manifesto was written by the French writer André Breton in 1924 and released to the public 1925.
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Surrealism and film
Surrealism and music
Surrealist Manifesto
Surrealist techniques
Surrealist games
Surrealist humor
In surrealism, play, including surrealist games
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Surrealism
Surrealism and film
Surrealism and music
Surrealist Manifesto
Surrealist techniques
Surrealist games
Surrealist humor
Surreal humour
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Surrealism
Surrealism and film
Surrealism and music
Surrealist Manifesto
Surrealist techniques
Surrealist games
Surrealist humor
Surrealism[1]
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ART is a three-letter acronym that can mean:
Medicine
- Antiretroviral therapy. It is used in the treatment of HIV infection.
- assisted reproductive technology
Other
- Adaptive resonance theory
..... Click the link for more information. Poetry (from the Greek "ποίησις", 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
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Literature literally "acquaintance with letters" (from Latin littera letter) as in the first sense given in the Oxford English Dictionary, or works of art, which in Western culture are mainly prose, both fiction and non-fiction, drama and poetry.
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Surrealism
Surrealism and film
Surrealism and music
Surrealist Manifesto
Surrealist techniques
Surrealist games
Surrealist humor
In surrealism, play, including surrealist games
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Consciousness is a characteristic 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 one's environment.
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unconscious refers to that part of mental functioning of which subjects make themselves unaware [28].
Freud proposed a vertical and hierarchical architecture of human consciousness: the conscious mind, the preconscious, and the unconscious mind - each lying
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Automatism may refer to:
- Automatic behavior, spontaneous verbal or motor behavior
- Automatism (toxicology), when an individual repeatedly takes a medication because the individual forgets previous doses, potentially leading to a drug overdose
..... Click the link for more information. Aerography is a surrealist method in which a stencil, which would have been used in spraypainting, is replaced by a three-dimensional object. Examples can be seen in the works of Man Ray.
See also
..... Click the link for more information. Graffiti- Graffiti Art
- Stencil Art
- Spray paint art
- Screen printing
- Guerrilla art
- Woodblock graffiti
WikiProject Graffiti A
stencil..... Click the link for more information. Spray painting is painting using a device that sprays the paint.
There are several different technologies for doing this.
- Canned spray paint: The most common type in the consumer market is an aerosol can of spray paint.
..... Click the link for more information. Automatism is a surrealist technique involving spontaneous writing, drawing, or the like practiced without conscious aesthetic or moral self-censorship. Automatism has taken on many forms: the automatic writing and drawing initially (and still to this day) practiced by surrealists
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Automatic drawing (distinguished from drawn expression of mediums) was developed by the surrealists, as a means of expressing the subconscious. In automatic drawing, the hand is allowed to move 'randomly' across the paper.
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Automatic painting refers to...
- Surrealist automatism in regards to painting.
- Painting done by robots or machines - Automatic painting (robotic)
..... Click the link for more information. Automatic writing is the process, or product, of writing material that does not come from the conscious thoughts of the writer. The writer's hand forms the message, and the person is unaware of what will be written. It is sometimes done in a trance state.
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Poetry (from the Greek "ποίησις", 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
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Automatism is a surrealist technique involving spontaneous writing, drawing, or the like practiced without conscious aesthetic or moral self-censorship. Automatism has taken on many forms: the automatic writing and drawing initially (and still to this day) practiced by surrealists
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William Butler Yeats (IPA: /ˈjeɪts/; 13 June 1865 – 28 January 1939) was an Irish poet and dramatist, and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature.
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A Vision, originally published in 1925, is a book-length study of various philosophical, historical, astrological, and poetic topics by the Irish poet William Butler Yeats.
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Bulletist or bulletism is an artistic process that involves shooting ink at a blank piece of paper. The result is a type of ink blot. The artist can then develop images based on what is seen. Salvador Dalí claimed to have invented this technique.
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An ink is a liquid containing various pigments and/or dyes used for coloring a surface to produce an image or text. Ink is used for drawing or writing with a pen or brush or quill. Thicker inks, in paste form, are used extensively in letterpress and lithographic printing.
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Paper is thin material used for writing upon, printing upon or packaging, produced by the amalgamation of fibres, typically vegetable fibers composed of cellulose, which are subsequently held together by hydrogen bonding.
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Poetry (from the Greek "ποίησις", 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
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Guillaume Apollinaire (French IPA: [gi'jom apɔli'nɛʁ]) (August 26, 1880 – November 9, 1918) was a French poet, writer, and art critic born in Italy to a Polish mother.
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