Decalcomania

Its invention has been attributed to Simon François Ravenet (1706–1774), an engraver from France who later moved to England and perfected the process, which he called "décalquer" (derived from French papier calque, "tracing paper").

[citation needed] The first known use of the French term décalcomanie, in Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Eleanor's Victory (1863), was followed by the English decalcomania in an 1865 trade show catalog (The Tenth Exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association); it was popularized during the ceramic transfer craze of the mid-1870s.

[citation needed] German artist Max Ernst also practiced decalcomania, as did Hans Bellmer and Remedios Varo.

[2] American visual artist Perry Hall has created hundreds of paintings solely through the use of decalcomania and has developed variations on the technique.

At Yale University, fingerpaint decalcomanias have been analysed for their tendency to generate fractals when the process is repeated several times on the same paper.