decalcomania

According to Rivera, a favorite technique was decalcomania, in which wet ink or paint is spread on sheets and pressed together; others show off Fini’s drawing prowess.

Some unexpected cases included workers exposed to “freight car seals; coffin ‘trim’; decalcomania papers for pottery decoration; polishing cut glass; brass founding; wrapping cigars in so-called tinfoil, which is really lead.”

The brightly colored abstract paintings shimmer with layers of paint applied using a variety of complex techniques including decalcomania, in which organic patterns are transferred from paper to canvas.

Looking upon hands and feet – let alone faces – so distorted by disease that they appear mineralised, I was reminded of Max Ernst's use of decalcomania to create strange and post-human landscapes.

In 1935 the Spaniard Oscar Dominguez started using decalcomania, which involves spreading ink over a sheet of paper that is then pressed with another sheet.