THIS IS A PRELIMINARY WORKING DRAFT
Decalcomania is a technique reinvented by Oscar Dominguez in 1936 [1]. This process involves laying a sheet of paper on top of another which is coated in gouache. After being pressed together, the sheets are peeled apart. The sheets produce two images with strange, often geological textures which are formed largely by chance. Much like the earlier Rorschach Ink-Blot test, searching for hidden images on these papers fueled the imagination. The process of decalcomanie immediately became as important a technique to the Surrealists as automatic writing, collage, frottage and cadavre exquis drawings in their search for hidden meaning.
Footnotes:
[1] Dictionnaire abrege du Surrealisme, Paris 1938. This technique was defined as:
“Decalcomnia (with no preconceived object or decalcomania of desire) – Take a big brush and spread black gouache, thinned in places, on a sheet of white glazed paper. Then lay over it another sheet of the same paper, pressing it down here and there. Peel off the second sheet (procedure discovered by Oscar Dominguez in 1936).”
Website updated: May 4, 2020
Text file: 10. Decalcomania (05) Comments.docx