decoupage, also spelled Découpage, (French: “cutting out”), the art of cutting and pasting cutouts to simulate painting on a wood, metal, or glass surface. There are many variations in technique, but the four basic steps of decoupage generally are cutting out the pictures, arranging them to depict a scene or tell a story, pasting them on a surface, and applying several (sometimes up to 12) thin coats of varnish or lacquer to the pictures.
Influenced by a tradition of cut work that includes the paper cutting of the ancient Chinese, the felt appliqués found among the Siberian peoples, and the Polish folk art of paper cutting, decoupage originated in France in the 17th century as a means of decorating bookcases, cabinets, and other pieces of furniture. It spread throughout Europe and in the 18th century became a fashionable pastime, especially at the Italian, French, and English courts. Graceful, charming, and colourful designs, cut from pictures printed expressly for this purpose, were applied to fans, screens, and toilet articles. In the 19th century, peep shows, miniature vistas viewed through a small opening, were constructed of decoupage.
The French Art Deco designer Jean-Michel Frank used decoupage on some of his earliest Parsons tables in Paris in the 1920s. Decoupage was revived in the United States in the 1960s, as a popular decoration for boxes, trays, wastebaskets, lampshades, chests, and screens.