Grattage

{{Short description|Surrealist painting technique}} {{other uses}} [[File:Apotheosis, grattage su tela, opera dell'artista Giovanni Guida.jpg|thumb|Grattage, ''Apotheosis'', Giovanni Guida, 2014]] '''Grattage''' (literally "scratching", "scraping") is a technique in surrealist painting which consists of "scratching" fresh paint with a sharp blade.<ref name="tate">{{cite web |title=Grattage – Art Term |url=https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/g/grattage |website=Tate |accessdate=23 May 2020}}</ref><ref>M. A. Caws, Mary Ann Caws, ''Surrealism'', Phaidon Press, 2004</ref>

In this technique, one typically attempts to scratch and remove the chromatic pigment spread on a prepared support (the canvas or other material)<ref>Carlo Pirovano, ''La Pittura in Italia: Il Novecento'', Volumi 1–2, Electa, 1992</ref> in order to move the surface and make it dynamic.<ref>Marina Pugliese, ''Tecnica mista. Com'è fatta l'arte del '900'', Bruno Mondadori, 2012</ref> Incorporate the technique of grattage in the painting in order to create a strong sense of texture or pattern on the surface of the picture plane.<ref>Jean Robertson, Craig McDaniel, ''Painting as a Language: Material, Technique, Form, Content,'' Harcourt College Publishers, 2000</ref>

This technique was used by Max Ernst,<ref>M. E. Warlick, ''Max Ernst and Alchemy: A Magician in Search of Myth'', University of Texas Press, 2013</ref><ref>Peter Stockwell, ''The Language of Surrealism'', Macmillan International Higher Education, 2016</ref> Joan Miró,<ref>Giulio Carlo Argan, ''Studi sul surrealismo'', Volume 1, Officina, 1977</ref> and later by informal artists.

== Technique and materials == In this pictorial technique, in addition to the use of brushes and spatulas, the artist experiments with common tools and everyday objects, such as sponges, steel brushes, stilettos, scalpels, tips, razor blades, and small blocks of metal.

In grattage various common tools scrape wet paint to simulate natural patterns or to create new ones.<ref>Marie MacDonnell Roberts, ''The artist's design: probing the hidden order'', Fradema Press, 1993</ref> The scratches created bring out the colors of the underlying pictorial layers and create chromatic contrasts. In the ''grattages'', the scraping of the surface layers of paint over an assortment of objects serves to stimulate the mind to engage itself in the automatic process of “discovering” images lying hidden within its innermost recesses.<ref>Haim Finkelstein, ''The Screen in Surrealist Art and Thought'', Routledge, 2017</ref>

== Artists == Max Ernst rediscovered the frottage technique (based on the rubbing principle<ref>Enrici Michel, ''Hans Hartung: le geste et la méthode'', Fondation Marguerite et Aimé Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence 2008</ref>); in 1927<ref>Spies Werner, Bernstein Joseph M, ''Max Ernst: Frottage,'' H.N. Abrams, New York 1969</ref> he transposed this drawing technique - generally applied to paper - to oil painting<ref>Newman Rachel Beth, ''Max Ernst, Grattage, and the Horde Series'', University of Texas, Austin 2018</ref>, thus creating the grattage process.<ref>''Max Ernst'', Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2005</ref><ref>Ernst Max, ''Max Ernst. A Retrospective'', Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York 1975</ref> Grattage allowed Max Ernst to free the creative forces full of suggestions and evocations, less theoretical and more unconscious<ref>Brunner Gisela, ''Max Ernst:'' ''die halbautomatischen Techniken Frottage - Grattage'', 1975</ref> and spontaneous.<ref>Uwe M. METKEN, Max Ernst, Karin von Maur, Sigrid Metken, Uwe M. Schneede, Tate Gallery, Sarah Wilson, ''Max Ernst: A Retrospective'', Prestel, 1991</ref><ref>Warlick M. E., ''Max Ernstand Alchemy. A Magician in Search of Myth'', University of Texas Press, Austin 200</ref><ref>Legge Elizabeth M., ''Max Ernst. The Psychoanalytic Sources'', UMI Research Press, 1989</ref>

This technique was refined by the artist Hans Hartung;<ref>Giraudy Danièle, Hans Hartung, premières peintures 1922-1949, Musée Picasso, Antibes, France, 1987</ref><ref>Hans Hartung, Domenico D'Oora, Maurizio Medaglia, Vittorio Raschetti, ''Hans Hartung'', Silvia, 2006</ref> through this process he reaches the sublimation of his typical pictorial gestures, creating a new sign alphabet relying on pointed tools, suitably modified brushes, and rollers.<ref>Hans Hartung, Michel Enrici, Fondation Maeght, ''Hans Hartung: le geste et la méthode'', Fondation Marguerite et Aimé Maeght, 2008</ref>

The technique remains in use today<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grattage, painting technique |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/grattage |access-date= |website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> and is reflected in the work of Giovanni Guida<ref>{{Cite web |title=Giovanni Guida, 1992 |url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/giovanni-guida/ |website=Treccani}}</ref>, an Italian painter known for his contemporary interpretation of surrealist methods<ref>{{Cite web |title=Surrealism at 100: Giovanni Guida explores hidden depths with innovative grattage |url=https://www.euronews.com/culture/2024/06/13/surrealism-at-100-giovanni-guida-explores-hidden-depths-with-innovative-grattage |website=Euronews}}</ref>.

In figurative monochrome neo-grattage<ref>[http://www.matway.dk ''Neograttage''] MatWay (Matvey Slavin) - Artist's website. Retrieved December 18, 2024</ref> MatWay further develops the technique in so-called ''Engraved Paintings''.<ref>[https://kunstavisen.dk/article/maerk-magtens-spil/ ''Maerk magtens spil - Matvey Slavin''] Engraved Paintings. Article by Inge Schjødt. Retrieved October 7, 2022</ref>

==References== {{commonscat}} {{Reflist}}

Category:Surrealist techniques Category:Painting techniques