"Among Surrealist techniques exploiting the mystique of accident was a kind of collective collage of words or images called the cadavre exquis (exquisite corpse). Based on an old parlor game, it was played by several people, each of whom would write a phrase on a sheet of paper, fold the paper to conceal part of it, and pass it on to the next player for his contribution. The technique got its name from results obtained in initial playing, "Le cadavre exquis boira le vin nouveau" (The exquisite corpse will drink the young wine)."
(Rubin, William S. Dada & Surrealist Art. New York 1968.)
"The 'exquisite corpse' was invented by the French Surrealist Jacques Delaquin in 1923, at 54 Rue du Chateau, Paris. It was a game played by a group of Surrealists. Each one writes a line of a poem or paints or draws a picture, then folds over the page, and passes it on. By the end they have constructed a imperatively odd creative work. Its name derives from the first sentence this game produced: "The exquisite corpse will drink the young wine."
