Design Foundation
Assignment 1
Surreal collage with emphasis, simulated color and simulated texture
Collage takes its name from the French verb coller, to glue. The work of art is made by pasting
things to the surface. Collage became an art form during the Synthetic Cubist period of Picasso and
Braque. At first, Pablo Picasso glued oil cloth to his surface of Still Life with Chair Caning in May of
1912. He glued a rope around the edge of the oval canvas. Georges Braque then glued imitation
wood-grained wallpaper to his Fruit Dish and Glass (September 1912). Braque's work is
called papier collé (glued or pasted paper), a specific type of collage.
Pablo Picasso, Still Life with Chair Caning, 1912
Georges Braque, Fruit Dish and Glass, 1912
During the Dada movement, Hannah Höch (German, 1889-1978) glued bits of photographs from
magazines and advertising in such works as Cut with a Kitchen Knife, (1919-20). Fellow Dadaist Kurt
Schwitters (German, 1887-1948) also glued bits of paper he found in newspapers, advertisements and
other discarded matter beginning in 1919. Schwitters called his collages and assemblages Merzbilder, a
word derived from the German word "Kommerz" (Commerce, as in banking) which had been on a
fragment of an advertisement in his first work, and bilder ("pictures"). The exclusive use of photos in
collage is called photomontage.
Hannah Hoch, Cut with a Kitchen Knife, 1919-1920
Dadaist Kurt Schwitters, Carnival, 1947
Collage became the way to integrate "high" and "low" art - work made by the artist's hand and work made
by mass-production.
Materials per Student:
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A variety of magazines
Use cut-outs from magazines or newsprint. National Geographic, Smithsonian, Nature magazines
and news magazines can feature several collage-worthy images. Newsprint can add a fun texture
to a collage, as well; just be aware that dyes may run sometimes.
Scissors
Yes Glue
A piece of 20 x 30” illustration board
Surrealism - a movement in art and literature in the 1920s, which developed from dada, characterized by
the evocative juxtaposition of incongruous images in order to include unconscious and dream elements.
The term surrealism means above reality. This movement focused on things beyond reality, such as the
subconscious mind where dreams and random thoughts originate and imagination soars.
Surrealists believe that our dreams held the key to unlocking truth. Because surrealist artists often used
dream like thinking in their art, the end result is often based on reality yet incorporates unexpected twists
that make their art surprising, strange, silly, interesting, or simply odd.
For your sketch book:
A. Create two pencil studies before you start your collage.
Is it necessary to plan your design in thorough detail before you start, or should you let it develop as you go along?
Planning a painting can be a help as you know exactly what you're going to do, but it could also inhibit spontaneity.
Letting a collage evolve as you work is very free and lets you be spontaneous, but also leaves you open to the
possibility that the collage won't go anywhere and you'll end up with a mess. Ultimately the degree to which you
plan out a painting depends on your personality; some people find it essential and others a hindrance. But regardless
of how detailed you like to plan (or not), there are numerous decisions that have to be made before you to start to
paint.
B. Take a 4” x 6” digital image of the final collage and glue it into the sketch book. The digital image of your
collage can be printed at the Regis copy center for a nominal fee. Make sure your digital image is in focus, squared
off and color and value are comparable to original painting.
C. Describe your collage in a typed paragraph and place (glue) into your sketch book.
You will make observations about what you see. You have to be objective. For this part please make no inferences
or express opinions. You are going to create a list of what you see. List only the facts about the artwork and write a
paragraph base on this list:
Subject matter: Geometric shapes, abstract, non-objective, organic landscape
Medium: acrylic, pencil, charcoal, mixed media, collage
Style: hard edge, flat, realistic, surreal, fantasy
Technique: Opaque, flat colors, glue, and overlap, superimpose, compare and contrast
D. Analyze your collage in a typed paragraph and place (glue) into your sketch book.
How do you compose or design (organize) your painting? This is where your knowledge of the elements of design
and the principles of design play an important role. The combinations of these, elements and principles help the
artist create the mood of the work or express a particular point of view or message. Base this paragraph on this list:
Design elements: line, shape, value, color, size, direction, texture, focal point,
Design Principles: repetition and rhythm, dominance and subordination, unity and variety, contrast,
balance, emphasis, scale and proportion
Assignment:
You will create a surreal image that will include collage. You can use photos, clippings from magazines
or newspaper, photocopies, images from the Internet, sandpaper, movie tickets etc. You may cut or tear
images. Please look for different types of surface, soft, hard, smooth, etc in your collage elements. When
photographs are used for collage materials, texture starts to take on more importance. Now you can use
the illusion of many different textures, as well as the colors and objects in the pictures. This is one of the
things that make collage such a potentially powerful technique. What you lack in control and versatility is
more than made up by the rich variety of colors, textures and images that are at the your disposal. Collage
allows someone with modest technical skills, and no drawing skills, to create a sophisticated image.
Surreal collage examples:
Emphasis
CONTROL OF ATTENTION: An artist has to know how to control the attention of the viewers of their
artwork. Artists will not succeed in art without this knowledge. Artists plan, order, and organize their
artwork. Artists do this by using the design elements such as line, shape, value, texture, direction, color,
and size. Artists arrange the design elements by incorporating the principles of design (rules for
organizing).
DOMINANCE shows a situation where something is more important and noticeable than its
surroundings. Information is rarely of uniform interest in art (except in wallpaper). Most art is used to
communicate idea, story or present a point of view. There is usually a focal point, a place where the
action is centered. An artist should be able to control what will be noticed first, what is dominant in an
artwork, and where the viewer's attention will go from there.
SUBORDINATION: When there is dominance there must be subordination things in lower ranking. In
art this means that some things get more attention and some get less. Figure dominates ground for
instance. This is a matter of emphasis. Some situations call for strong visual dominance such as attracting
the viewer's attention to the main subject of an image. Some situations call for more subtle emphasis such
as leading the viewer through the composition and directing them to a secondary focal point. The artist
should be able to use all levels of control over the viewer's attention. This includes the ability to put
something in an image that may escape detection for a long time (and then find later).
Student Examples: