A painting technique where layers of paint are scraped away to reveal underlying colors or the canvas surface. The scraping creates texture and allows for complex layering effects and color interactions.
From French 'gratter' meaning 'to scrape,' the technique was developed by Max Ernst as a complement to frottage. Ernst would lay canvas over textured surfaces, apply paint, then scrape it away to reveal the impressed textures beneath.
Grattage turns painting into archaeology - artists build up layers of color like sedimentary rock, then excavate through them to reveal hidden histories! Max Ernst's grattage paintings look like ancient civilizations emerging from geological time, where each scraped layer tells a different story.
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