frottage, (French: “rubbing”), in visual arts, technique of obtaining an impression of the surface texture of a material, such as wood, by placing a piece of paper over it and rubbing it with a soft pencil or crayon, as for taking brass rubbings; the name is also applied to the impression so obtained. Frottage was used by Max Ernst and other members of the Surrealist movement, for whom it often provided the starting point for more elaborate compositions such as paintings and collages.