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Fumage is a surrealist art technique popularized by Wolfgang Paalen in which impressions are made by the
Video demo of how the fumage technique works
by Antonio Muñiz Visual arts media Smoke Surrealist techniques {{Art-technique-stub
Fumage is a surrealist art technique popularized by Wolfgang Paalen in which impressions are made by the smoke
Smoke is an aerosol (a suspension of airborne particulates and gases) emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass. It is commonly an unwante ...
of a candle
A candle is an ignitable candle wick, wick embedded in wax, or another flammable solid substance such as tallow, that provides light, and in some cases, a Aroma compound, fragrance. A candle can also provide heat or a method of keeping time. ...
or kerosene lamp on a piece of paper or canvas. The earliest documented practitioner of the technique was American clockmaker Silas Hoadley whose circa 1810-1820 fumage decorated clock is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Paalen's first fumage, ''Dictated by a Candle'', was presented 1936 in the International Surrealist Exhibition in London. In the same year Paalen painted '' Pays interdit'' ("Forbidden Land"), his first oil painting, which he based on the fumage technique. Several other Surrealists as Roberto Matta, but also Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...
later utilized the technique, Dali calling the technique "". The technique has been utilized by artists including Bimal Banerjee, Alberto Burri, Burhan Doğançay
Burhan C. Doğançay (11 September 1929 – 16 January 2013) was a Turkish-American artist. Doğançay is best known for tracking walls in various cities across the world for half a century, integrating them in his artistic work.
Biograph ...
, Jiri Georg Dokoupil, Hugh Parker Guiler, Yves Klein, Antonio Muñiz, and Otto Piene.
In popular media
Guiler's usage of the fumage technique is depicted briefly in the 1987 film '' Henry and June'' and his fumage pictures were often used as the covers for his wife Anaïs Nin's books.Scholarship
Scholar Mary Flanagan compared the technique to the reading of tea leaves and to theRorschach test
The Rorschach test is a projective test, projective psychological test in which subjects' perceptions of inkblots are recorded and then analyzed using psychology, psychological interpretation, complex algorithms, or both. Some psychologists u ...
. José Antonio Pérez Esteban's 2013 doctoral thesis analyzes fumage art, especially "soot paintings" by Jiri Georg Dokoupil.
See also
*Surrealist techniques
Surrealism in art, poetry, and literature uses numerous 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 mind, u ...
* Pyrography
References
External links
Video demo of how the fumage technique works
by Antonio Muñiz Visual arts media Smoke Surrealist techniques {{Art-technique-stub