Collage
Two Dimensional Media
COLLAGE
Collage is a medium that combines both found objects and/or images such as printed material, newspaper, illustrations, photographs, even string, fabric, and bottle caps, or objects to create an entirely new image. The variety of materials can be attached using glue, tape, or in any way you can imagine. The Whole image can be created using collaged material or it can also refer to works of art (paintings, drawings, and prints) that include pieces of collage within them. The definition is very broad when it comes to collage!
Collage was made popular in western art history by Pablo Picasso and the cubists as they layered various paper, cardboard, and painted cut-outs to create their images. The German artist Kurt Schwitters used collage as the dominant formal element in his works from the 1930’s. His work, Opened by Customs is an excellent example of the importance of collage to the modern art movement in Europe before World War Two.
Kurt Schwitters, Opened by Customs, 1937-38, paper, printed paper, oil paint and graphite
The surrealists embraced collage and merged it with their 'automatic Links to an external site.' approach to creating work. These artists relied on their subconscious to create collages out of illustrations, colored paper, and paint. The surrealists collage images evoke a sense of dreamlike wonder.
Joseph Cornell, Untitled (Celestial Fantasy with Tamara Toumanova), 1940
Artist Romare Bearden used collage to comment on urban life and the black experience in America. His, Patchwork Quilt presents us with a figure in profile reminiscent of Egyptian painting. The starkness of the black figure surrounded by a collage of patterned fabric and dark background color creates a shallow space and dynamic composition.
Romare Bearden, Patchwork Quilt, 1970, cut and pasted cloth and paper with acrylic on board
The Japanese American artist Paul Horiuchi began as a painter but by mid career used collage almost exclusively. Horiuchi’s art is a successful blending of the formal elements of cubist ideas with the aesthetic of his Japanese heritage. His most ambitious piece is the, Seattle Mural, a huge glass mosaic commissioned for the site of the1962 World’s Fair. Though not collage, this immense work mimics the artist’s collage technique in its shapes and composition.
Paul Horiuchi, Seattle Mural, 1962. Glass mosaic. The Seattle Center.
Digital image by Christopher Gildow. Used with permission.
Each individual two-dimensional medium has an extensive range of uses. Taken together their breadth is wide and the visual, textural, and emotional effects they give to works of art are extremely varied as you can see in the many examples used throughout this module. Most of us have had some exposure to drawing and painting, maybe even printmaking and collage. They are tools artists use to express themselves, their thoughts and ideas. If your curiosity is stirred by the exposure you’ve had here, sign up for a studio art course! You’ll have the opportunity to learn additional techniques and skills in how to use them to express your own creative ideas.