overpainting

The Cologne dadaist Max Ernst created a series of works in which he painted or drew over pages of found print materials. He overpainted or embellished wallpapers, knitting and crocheting instruction sheets, pages from handicraft booklets, and a printer's vignette catalogue. His favorite source was an 1873 teaching aids supply catalogue advertising models, equipment, and diagrams, mostly for scientific demonstrations. Adding lines and areas of color, he obscured the original function of the sheet, disorienting his viewers with the very sources designed to instruct and educate.