Part 1: Two Dimensions

Max Ernst and the Surreal CollageLearning ObjectivesInvestigate the work of Max Ernst and the intentions of the SurrealistsDevelop an understanding of using existing imagery to create impossible scenes

Learning Outcome All of you will create a collage that expresses absurdity, nightmares or dreams inspired by the work of Max ErnstSome of you will use acetone, transfer printing to create parts of the image

What is Surrealism?Watch the clip and listen for the answers to these questions……

Where did Surrealism begin?What did Andre Breton (godfather of Surrealism) believe?What did Surrealists do with everyday objects?What is Automatism?

Clip- Introduction to Surrealism

Ernst created collages by cutting pictures from old catalogues and cheap novels, gluing them onto different backgrounds. Some of his most imaginative collages appeared in a novel in 1934

How do these collages created by Max Ernst fit with the ideas behind Surrealism?

Acetone printing

Take a cotton ball and saturate it with acetone.

Starting at the centre of the image, swipe your saturated cotton ball across the paper from the centre outwards.

The acetone will reactivate the ink on the paper causing it to transfer.

Try rubbing the wrong end of a pencil of blunt tool across the image, burnishing it to make sure it has transferred completely.

Gently peel back the paper to check that it is transferring. If it is not try different amounts of acetone or pressure when rubbing- it’s not an exact science. The paper should peel up fine as long as the paper is still a little moist. If the paper dries completely, you can very lightly dampen it with a moist cloth and continue rubbing the paper off with your finger.

The Exquisite CorpseLearning ObjectivesDevelop an understanding of how and why the Surrealists used a simple parlour game to generate artwork and how this has influenced contemporary artists, the Chapman Brothers.

Learning Outcome Play the game using poly printing techniques to create an outcome.

Exquisite Corpse is based on an old parlour game called Consequences. It was played by several people, each of whom would draw on a sheet of paper, fold the paper to conceal part of it, and pass it on to the next player for his contribution.

The technique exploited the mystique of accident.

It was a kind of collective collage of words or images.

Why would this process appeal to the Surrealists?

“Poetry must be made by all and not by one.”Lautréamont

Consequences

1.Fold a sheet of A4 paper into three even rectangles2.You will have 2 minutes to sketch out a head to the body and leave a neck line3.Afterwards swap with the person next to you and they should draw from the neck to the waist4.Continue to the next person and draw from the waist to the knees5.FInally, the last person draws the knees to the feet

The Chapman Brothers

Contemporary artists, Jake and Dinos Chapman, etch their part of the ‘figure’ into a metal plate. Their assistants then cover up the section they have etched before passing it onto the other brother.

The result is only revealed when the plate is inked up and printed.

These etchings feature comic-horror imagery typical of the Chapmans’ work: skulls, eyeballs on stalks, grotesque animal heads, liquids dripping and spurting from wounds, writhing intestines, and claw-like hands and feet .

Is this Surreal?

Exquisite Corpse

On the three strips of poly board provided, draw three sections of a creature, inanimate objects, animal or human. (Use the resources to help you)

You should attempt a head section, middle section including arms and a final section showing legs and feet.

This is a rough guide. The last thing we want is for your drawing to look ‘normal’.

Swap two of your poly board strips with other members of the group.

Print these in order to see the creature you have created.

How to print

Assemblage Hybrid

Learning ObjectivesDevelop an understanding of using existing imagery to create impossible creatures

Learning OutcomeCollage hybrid creature

Use at least three different images to create your hybrid creatureAsk yourself the following questions:How many legs / arms and heads will it have?Would it walk, slither or creep?Will it have an animal, insect or human face or a combination?

Practice these cross hatching techniques in fine liner before tracing your collage….

Trace your CreatureTrace your original collage and use different crosshatching techniques to add tone and texture. Look at the work of contemporary artists Alessandro Maffioletti…..

…and Dan Hillier to see how they use different mark making techniques.

Max Ernst and RubbingsLearning ObjectivesDevelop understanding of Max Ernst techniques in creating and using rubbings

Learning Outcome Add colour and texture to the traced hybrid creature

Max Ernst collaged rubbings…. Click here

Either add rubbings of different textures directly into your pen drawing or collage rubbings behind sections of your drawing.

Imagine the drawing on the right behind your tracing…