'Klecksography' - the earlier study of inkblots originated from the German Poet and physician, Justinius Kerner. Kerner would Make Ink blots, Draw on them to create an image and then write a poem based on what he saw. Kerner Believed that his ink blots were 'incursions of the spirit world' and that his 'magical' ink blot images spoke to him, using voices of the dead. He would portray these voices into gloomy poetic captions that he would add to his ink blots. Around 50 years later, psychologist 'Hermann Rorschanch' Read these poems and was intrigued by the ink blots that had been made. Over the next two years, He experimented with ink blots as a psychological tool, rather than art itself, experimenting with different blots until he found ten that he used to diagnose Schizophrenia in his patients. The blots were used to interview patients who did not want to discus what they were thinking or feeling. Unfortunately, Rorschach only lived for another 10 years after his discovery therefore was not able to see the impact it made on clinical tools and art.
Card VIII of Hermann Rorschach’s test, 1921.
Klecksography Inkblot Justinus Kerner
Other examples of artists famous for the rise of ink blotting usage is Leonardo da Vinci, 'who, it was said, had once thrown a bucket of paint at a wall and divined his next painting from the shapes he saw before him' - https://longreads.com/2017/02/27/rorschachs-inkblots-art-history/
Developing from ink blotting being used as psychological tools, the blotting form started to be used much more within the arts industry, with many artists not only creating their own blotting works, but also adapting the blots to create different types of images, Some of which you would not think came from an ink blot.
An example of an artist who has developed ink blotting into their own work is 'Dave Gibbons'
'Gibbons' is a comic book illustrator, a famous example being the comic 'watchmen'
in which he created a character called 'Rorschach' who has a face which looks like it has ink blotting on it. Originally in Gibbons' initial designs, Rorschach wore white clothing which had inkblots not only on his head but all over his body. Gibbons stated that Rorschach was one of his favourite characters to draw, due to the simplicity of drawing him.
Sources -
http://www.theinkblotbook.com/552/justinus-kerner/
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