Collage, though thought by many to be a more modern form of artistic method, is actually a centuries old practice. Historically the act of gluing paper onto other materials can be seen in the 1100’s with artists in Japan using silk and paper to create artwork. It can also be seen in the 1400’s and later centuries in Europe in the rise of medicine and medical texts, such as creating anatomical diagrams with collage techniques implemented much in the same way as a children’s flap book.
Picasso, ‘Bottle of Vieux Marc, Glass, Guitar and Newspaper’ (1913)
Collage also has a prevalence in the Victorian era in the form of a rise in scrapbooking as a hobby by many young women. The Victorian’s also incorporated nature into their scrapbooking techniques in the form of pressing flowers and layering them to create natural looking collages. The term for the technique, however, was actually coined in the early 1900’s to describe some of the works that Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque were creating at the time despite the practice existing in various forms through history from the invention of paper.
Collage doesn’t have to just include paper being stuck onto a surface however, though this is often the default and what is usually thought of first when the medium is mentioned.. Collages can be made using photography, fabrics, painting, drawing or even sculptural elements and working in three dimensions. Digital forms of collage have started to become more prevalent in the last few decades due to the advancements in technology and the advent of programmes such as Adobe Photoshop to help layer images and vectors together virtually.
There are different sub techniques of collage, including montage and photomontage. Montage is a form of collage which usually consists of a group of images which are gathered together to create a piece of art. These images usually have some relevance to each other and are often based on a theme. Photomontage however, though similar, is usually used as a form of political protest and brings together images to get across a point to the viewer and make a statement. Montage and photomontage techniques are very similar to what digital artists are producing and how a lot of promotional materials are created. Images are collected together which fit the product or business theme then overlaid in creative ways, often creating something new from the found materials.
References:
Corenell. J (1940) ‘Untitled (Celestial Fantasy with Tamara Toumanova’ . [online] Available at: https://mymodernmet.com/collage-art-collage/ [Accessed 20/10/21].
Picasso (1913) ‘Bottle of Vieux Marc, Glass, Guitar and Newspaper’ . [online] Available at: https://mymodernmet.com/collage-art-collage/ [Accessed 20/10/21].
Richamn-Abdou. K (2021) Exploring the Cutting-Edge History and Evolution of Collage Art. [online] Available at: https://mymodernmet.com/collage-art-collage/ [Accessed 15/10/21].
Riley. S (2019) Stick ‘em up! A surprising history of collage. [online] Available at: https://www.economist.com/1843/2019/07/24/stick-em-up-a-surprising-history-of-collage [Accessed 15/10/21].
Tate (2021) Collage – Art Term. [online] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/c/collage [Accessed 6/10/21].