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The Art of Collage, part 1: The Beginning of Contemporary Collage


7 FEBRUARY, 2019


"Collage is the twentieth century's greatest innovation." — Robert Motherwell



early abstract collage by Robert Motherwell

Early Collage by Robert Motherwell


The Art of Collage


In the world of contemporary art, it seems that the collage genre isn't given the respect it deserves. Many people aren’t aware of the part collage has played in art history, or of the many contemporary artists using collage as their primary medium today. These artists have each used this art form to express their own unique vision, and have forever changed the definition and perception of what the art of collage can be.



The Birth of an Art Form


Of course, I don't mean to imply that people had never glued papers to other papers before. There are many early precedents for the art form, going back to 10th century Japan. Decorative items were applied to books and panels in medieval and Renaissance Europe. Decades later, Victorians used photomontage (combining photos) and decoupage as techniques for creating memorabilia. Perhaps the first well-known collage artist was Mary Delany (below), who created beautiful botanical illustrations from cut paper in the late 1700's.

mary Delaney botanical collage of white flowers on black background

Mary Delaney collage of white and red lilies on black









early collage art by Picasso
Still Life with Chair Caning, Pablo Picasso, 1912
early collage of a rum bottle by Georges Braque
Bottle of Rum, Georges Braque

Cubists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque were the first to coin the term ‘collage’, which comes from the French word for glued paper, ‘colle’. Around 1912, Picasso began to add newsprint to his oil paintings, to reference current events. Both he and Braque composed works from pasted pieces of colored paper, newsprint, and found objects. At the time, this was "considered to be an audacious intermingling of high and low culture. It revolutionized modern art." (A Cut-Down History of Collage, Lauren Wallach)

 


Early Pioneers: Hannah Hoch and Kurt Schwitters


Hannah Höch


"I have always tried to exploit the photograph. I use it like color, or as the poet uses the word."           ~ Hannah Hoch


While Picasso and Braque were the first in the age of modern art to use collage, it was not their primary medium, nor did they use it extensively. Hannah Höch was a German artist and member of the Dada Movement, and was perhaps the first to use photomontage as a primary technique.


collage by Hannah Hoch of male and female figure
Money Worries by Hannah Hoch

"...This strategy of combining formerly unrelated images to make sometimes startling, sometimes insightful connections was one that came to be adopted by many Dada and Surrealist artists of her era... Höch also helped expand the notion of what could be considered art by incorporating found elements of popular culture into "higher" art."


Much of her work questioned political and societal norms.

"Her active interest in challenging the status of women in the social world of her times motivated a long series of works that promoted the idea of the "New Woman" in the era."



two assemblage figures made by Hannah Hoch in 1916
Dada Dolls by Hannah Hoch, 1916



collage of strange figures
The Big Step by Hannah Hoch




Kurt Schwitters


If Hannah Hoch was the queen of photomantage, Kurt Schwitters was king of the found object and ephemera. Unlike Hoch, his work rarely contains photographs, but instead is filled with detritus he found on the streets in Germany after World War I.


"The concept that attaching small objects (not to mention - garbage) to the surface of the canvas could be considered art was radical. Yet Schwitters was convinced that the act of taking broken fragments and unifying them into a whole demonstrated art's potential to remake and reimagine a fractured world." (The Art Story: Modern Art Insight)


Schwitters' collages are completely abstract. He did not wish to engage in the "illusionism" of realistic art. His references to reality are contained only in the materials themselves.


abstract collage made of found objects and ephemera by Kurt Schwitters

Kurt Schwitters, 1926


found object collage in gold, grey, and bue by Kurt Schwitters


found object collage by Kurt Schwitters


Revolving, Kurt Schwitters, 1919 Merzbuild, Kurt Schwitters, 1919



Romare Bearden


detail of The Block collage by Romare Beardon

The Block (detail), by Romare Bearden

Cut and pasted printed, colored and metallic papers, photostats, graphite, ink marker, gouache, watercolor, and ink on Masonite, 48 in. x 18 ft. (121.9 x 548.6 cm).


Romare Bearden was another artist who did much to advance the use of collage as a primary form of artistic expression. Originally a painter, Bearden started to experiment with collage in the 1960s, when he helped to found an artists group in support of civil rights. The content of his work focused mostly on the daily life of African-Americans in the rural south where he grew up, and in the city where he lived as an adult. 


"Bearden's work became more representational and more overtly socially conscious. He used clippings from magazines... to incorporate modernity in his works, trying to show how not only were African-American rights moving forward, but so was his socially conscious art." (Wikipedia


collage of African queen in blue, green, and red by Romare Bearden
collage of two figures with guitar in dark blue and red by Romare Bearden

She-ba by Romare Bearden Serenade, by Romare Bearden 1969



Henri Matisse


Henri Matisse painting of woman setting a red table in a red room

Henri Matisse painting, Dessert (Harmony in Red)



multi-color abstract cut paper collage of three figures and guitar by Matisse

Henri Matisse collage, Man Studying Poster of Sorrow of the King, 1952


Henri Matisse was known as a great painter, sometimes called the greatest colorist of the 20th century. He was a leader of the Fauve movement in Paris, as well as a contemporary and sometimes rival of Picasso.


Due to illness in his later years, Matisse could no longer stand at the easel. He began using paper cut-outs to design murals and other large works, having his assistants pin the shapes to the walls to form compositions. But then, what he called "drawing with scissors" itself became a medium for creating the artworks. Unlike other modern collage artists, he did not use photographs or found materials, but paper which had been painted with the colors he chose. These collages are considered one of his most important bodies of work.


Check out the video below to see why.




Stay tuned...


Of course, these are not the only early influencial collage artists. They're just the ones that stand out to me as the artists who did the most to change the way that people saw the art of collage. They legitimized it in the eyes of the the art world, and through the galleries, it came to be accepted by the public as well. Collage could now be considered "fine art".


I hope you enjoyed this overview of some of the important originators of the art of collage. In my next post, I'll look at some of the artists who continue to push the boundaries of this ever-expanding art form.




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