Max Ernst

In the lesson the teacher told us to do frottage drawing.

What it is

It is a French word for rubbing. The technique of frottage was developed by Max Ernst in drawing made from 1925. A surrealist and "automatic" method of creative production which involves a rubbing of a textured surface using pencil or other drawing materials. He and other surrealist artists put rubbings into their paintings by of collage.

Ernst is inspired by ancient wooden floor where the grain of the planks had been "accentuated" by so many years scrubbing. The patterns of the graining suggested strange images to him. From 1925 he get these by laying sheets  of papers on the floor and then rubbing over them with a soft pencil. The result shows mysterious forests people with bird like creatures.

He expanded his techniques by using wide range of textured surfaces and quickly adapted  the technique to oil painting,  calling it grattage (scrapping). In grattage the canvas is ready with a layer or more of painting then laid over the textured object which is scrapped then over.

The name of the piece is called petrified-forest. I like the monochrome colours which seem to bring the details forward really clearly. There are lighter and darker area in some parts of the work which adds depth to it. There are use of random lines. There is a negative shape, the circle at the top.