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composite animal laying down—tortoise shell on back, one horn, face of a rat

School of Nagai Rantei, Suisai: Mythical Unicorn with Carapace, mid-19th century, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Raymond and Frances Bushell Collection, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Make Art @ Home—Exquisite Corpse Game

November 12, 2020
Pattie Esquivel, Senior Education Coordinator

The LACMA team is working together from our respective homes to bring you interesting content and creative activities while the museum is temporarily closed to the public. We may not be able to gather together, but we can still create something beautiful.

Create an Exquisite Corpse.

The game of Exquisite Corpse began in the 1920s by Surrealist artists. It is a creative art activity that embodies the notions of collaboration and chance. (There's always an element of surprise!) The original activity included drawing, but in my family we like to use found images from magazines or junk mail. Two or more players are required.

Step One: Gather Your Materials

supplies for art activity

  • Paper—one sheet per player per game (8.5 x 11 works well but any size will do)
  • Image Clippings—cut out images from magazines, pictures, or newspapers, or use other found images
  • Adhesive—glue, glue stick, or tape (your choice)
  • Scissors
  • Pencil

Step Two: Prepare the Paper

images showing how to fold paper like a letter

  • Fold a single sheet of paper into three sections (like you are folding a letter to go into an envelope).
  • Unfold the paper and very lightly with a pencil, write "head" on the top portion, "torso" on the middle, and "legs" on the bottom portion. This will determine where each body part will go on the page.

Step Three: The Game Begins!

DESIGN A HEAD

Each player has a piece of folded paper. Notice where the marks are to determine where the head, torso, and legs will go.

images showing a found image head pasted on the top portion of the paper and then the paper folded over the head to hide it

  • From the images, each player selects one or more clippings to design a HEAD for their creature. Play around with different combinations. When satisfied, glue or tape the head on the top section of the paper.
  • Fold the paper concealing the head of the creature. Leave a tiny part visible at the bottom of the head as a guide, so the next player knows where to connect their part of the image. (Mark the corners with pencil, if needed.)
  • Each player then passes the folded sheet, with the image mostly hidden, to the next player.

MAKE A TORSO

examples of found image torsos

  • First, NO PEEKING at the top part of the paper!!
  • Make a TORSO from your paper clippings. Play around with different ideas until satisfied. The sillier the better! Then glue or tape the torso to the middle section of the paper.
  • Fold the paper concealing the torso of the creature. Leave a tiny part visible at the bottom of the torso as a guide, so the next player knows where to connect the legs. (Mark the corners with pencil, if needed.)
  • Each player then passes the folded sheet, with the image mostly hidden, to the next player.

GIVE IT SOME LEGS

player getting ready to glue their found image legs to the paper

  • Again, NO PEEKING at the hidden parts of the paper! You want this collaboration to be a surprise.
  • Select images to make LEGS. Play around with different ideas until satisfied. Glue or tape the legs to the bottom part of the paper.

THE BIG REVEAL

  • Pass the paper to the next player.
  • Everyone should unfold their papers at the same time to real the collaborative creatures that were made!

paper unfolded to show the entire composite, collaborative creature

What do you see? Have each player make up a story about where their surrealist creature lives. Keep playing! How many more creatures can you collaboratively make?

We would love to see your artwork! Have an adult post your creations to social media and tag @lacma.

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