collage

collage (kəläzh`, kō–) [Fr.,=pasting], technique in art consisting of cutting and pasting natural or manufactured materials to a painted or unpainted surface—hence, a work of art in this medium. The art of collage was initiated in 1912 when Picasso pasted a section of commercially printed oilcloth to his cubist painting, Still Life with Chair Caning (Mus. of Modern Art, New York City). Collage elements appear in works by Gris, Braque, Malevich, Dove, and the futurist artists. A basic means of Dada and surrealist art, it was used by Arp, Schwitters, and Ernst. Collage is related to the newer art of assemblage, in which the traditional painted canvas has been abandoned in favor of the assembling of bits of material, which are sometimes additionally painted or carved.

Bibliography

See studies by H. Janis and R. Blesh (rev. ed. 1967), H. Wescher (1968, tr. 1971), N. Laliberté (1972), G. F. Brommer (1978), B. French (1978), and John and Joan Digby (1987).

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collage

(from French coller, “to glue”) Pictorial technique of applying printed or found materials (e.g., newspaper, fabric, wallpaper) to a flat surface, often in combination with painting. Long popular as a pastime for children and amateurs, it was first given serious attention as an art technique by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque in 1912–13. Many other 20th-century artists produced collages, including Juan Gris, Henri Matisse, Joseph Cornell, and Max Ernst. In the 1960s collage was employed as a major form of Pop art, exemplified in the work of Robert Rauschenberg.