écrémage

noun

A surrealist automatic art technique in which paint or ink is floated on water and then skimmed off by passing stiff paper or cardboard just under the surface.

OriginFrench écrémage →
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Meanings

nounécrémage (uncountable)
  1. uncountableartA surrealist automatic art technique in which paint or ink is floated on water and then skimmed off by passing stiff paper or cardboard just under the surface.

    Écrémage, invented by Conroy Maddox, is 'skimming'; the method is to cover the surface of water in a large bowl with some oily substance – oil paint or an ink with an oily base – and to pass a board or stiff piece of paper just below.

    1951, Ithell Colquhoun, “Children of the Mantic Stain”, in Athene

Origin

  1. Frenchécrémage
  2. Englishécrémage

From French écrémage

More words from French

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

écrémage. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/%C3%A9cr%C3%A9mage

MLA

“écrémage.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/%C3%A9cr%C3%A9mage. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “écrémage,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/%C3%A9cr%C3%A9mage.

Source: écrémage on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.