Ar tist: Peter
Clark , collage
HISTORY OF COLLAGE
BIRTH OF COLLAGE
 Artists have been layering images and incorporating
autonomous elements into their work since the advent of
paper, collage truly emerged as a medium in its own right in
the early years of the 20th century with the Cubist
experiments of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. The duo
coined the term “collage” (from the French verb “ coller,”
meaning “to glue” or “to stick”) to describe works composed
from pasted pieces of colored paper, newsprint, and fabric,
considered at the time to be an audacious intermingling of
high and low culture. It revolutionized modern art.
 In Picasso’s iconic Still
Life With Chair Caning
(1912), perhaps the
most famous work of
this period, the artist
playfully renders a
tabletop still life by
incorporating everyday
elements like
newspaper and rope, as
well as a trompe-l’oeil
piece of mass-produced
oilcloth printed with a
chair-caning pattern.
Georges Braque. Violin and Pipe: "Le
Q u o t i d i e n . " 1 91 3 . C h a l k , c h a r c o a l a n d
p a s te d p a p e r. 74 x 10 6 c m
C h e c ke r b o a r d : " T i vo l i - C i n e m a . " 1 91 3 .
G e s s o , p a s te d p a p e r, c h a r c o a l a n d o i l o n
p a p e r, m o u n te d o n c a nv a s . 6 5 . 5 x 9 2 3 c m
 Inspired by Cubist experiments, artists associated with Dada —
particularly the movement’s Berlin branch —began
incorporating collage techniques into their work. Hannah
Hoch, Richard Huelsenbeck , John Heartfield, and others
pioneered the technique of photomontage, using preexisting
photographs, often drawn from mass -media sources, to create
composite images that sharply critiqued German society and
culture in the aftermath of World War I.
Indian Dancer, 1930.
Hannah Hoch.
Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada through
t h e L a s t We i m a r B e e r - B e l l y C u l t u r a l E p o c h
o f G e r m a ny, 1 91 9 . H a n n a h H o c h .
John Heartfield, 1930
J O H N H E ARTFIELD , P i c t ure Po s t 1 5 t h
O c to ber 1 9 3 8 p h o to - mo ntage
3D COLLAGE
 Drawing on the
foundations of Dada, neoavant-garde artists of the
1950s like Robert
Rauschenberg and Jasper
Johns created
assemblages that
brought collage
techniques into three
dimensions—laying the
groundwork for much
contemporary sculpture—
as well as works on paper
that incorporated found
elements drawn from the
mass media and everyday
life.
Robert Rauschenberg, Monogram
(1955-1959) Freestanding Combine
BERNARD PRAS
OTHER METHODS
 Contemporary artists
continue to use the medium
of collage in new and
innovative ways,
experimenting both
formally and conceptually.
 In Europe in the 1950s
Raymond Hains and other
artists associated with
Nouveau Réalisme, such as
François Dufrêne (b 1930)
and Mimmo Rotella,
experimented with
Décollage, a process of
stripping away layers of
glued paper.
PAPER COLLAGE
 Illustrator and designer Peter Clark created series of collages,
using a collection of found papers as his palette which are
colored, patterned or textured by their printed, written or worn
surfaces.
DIGITAL COLLAGE
 Made by gathering online images or personal photos; editing
and arranging them using programs like: Photoshop, Word, or
Paint Shop Pro, or Illustrator, or Quark Xpress etc.
Matt Wisniewski, 2011
Jesse Lenz, 2010